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FIDELITY AND OTHER POEMS 



/ 

SYLVANUS DRYDEN PHELPS. 



/ 




N E W - Y R K : 
SHELDON, LAMPORT & BLAKEMAN", 

No. 115 NASSAU STREET. 

BOSTON: GOULD & LINCOLN. 

MDCCCLVI. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the 3'ear 1855, 

BY S. D. PHELPS, 
In the Clerk's Office of the JJisirict Court of Connecticut. 



J. H. BENIIAM, 
STEREOTYPEB, 



PKEFACE 



Several years since, hardlj' before the writer had completed 
his Sophomore year in College — and this perhaps may account 
for the presumption — he tremblingly ventured before tlie public 
with a little volume of verses. He was kindly encouraged b}^ 
friends and associates, who, in general with those publicly 
noticing the book, received his school-boy musings with an 
unexpected degree of favor. The object of the publication 
was fully attained, and the edition was soon exhausted ; and 
though subsequently inquired for, I could not consent to the 
reappearance of that early and imperfect collection. With 
a profession in view, and since entered upon, exhausting one's 
time and energies by its demands which are never relaxed, 
and its anxieties whose pressure is unceasing — no further ex- 
cursions were intended into the ideal fields of Poesy, with 
the expectation of gleaning where more favored bards have 
reaped, or of garnering the few meager sheaves that might 
thus accumulate. But here are the sheaves ; or, dropping the 
figure, I find myself writing the preface of a new volume of 



IV PREFACE. 

verses, larger than the one referred to, and puzzling my brain 
to account or apologize for its appearance. 

Doubtless there must be some allowance for the old habit 
of rhyme-making, very naturally manifesting itself in overt 
acts now and then, in spite of general tendencies to the con- 
trary. Then, there are urgent requests of editoral friends and 
others, that one is reluctant in all cases to deny. And further- 
more, there are invitations, that somebody must respond to, 
from Literary Societies connected with our Universities and 
other educational institutions, for Poems as well as Orations 
at their anniversary festivals. If a tolerable success is attained 
on such occasions, there come various requests for publication. 
It was just here that the present volume had its inception. 
The wish that one or two of the longer Poems might be printed, 
being frequently urged, it was thought, in case of compliance, 
that various fugitive pieces, written at intervals, might be col- 
lected and consigned to a common fate. Still, the idea of pub- 
lishing, though prompted by an inclination to bring out some- 
thing better than the former issue, w^as reluctantly cherished, 
and only determined upon after repeated delays and the well- 
nigh relinquishment of the project altogether. Some of the 
poems, including the first writing of the longest, have thus been 
retained in manuscript the length of time recommended by 

Horace. 

Nonumque prematur in annum, 
Merabranis intus positis. 



PREFA.CE. V 

It was originally intended to include in this volume a limited 
selection from tlie former. But in hunting for the 'fugitives,* 
scattered through Magazines and other periodicals, or quietly- 
reposing amid private papers, an unexpected amount of ma- 
terial was gathered up. This, together with the verses written 
under the inspiration of the work of selecting and supervis- 
ing — a task not unpleasant in its nature and the old associa- 
tions it has awakened — not only forbade the transfer of a 
single piece from the earlier collection, but has swelled this 
some fifty pages beyond the limit at first contemplated. Had 
this been foreseen, some of these fragments Avould never have 
been basketed, but sent adrift as worthless waifs on the sea 
of oblivion. Whatever may be the estimate placed on these 
unambitious rhymings, by those under whose eye they may 
come, let it be remembered that no very high merit is claimed 
for them. They have not received the attention and care of 
garden plants and blossoms, but have sprung up and been 
gathered as wayside and unpretending flowers, that might, 
perhaps, attract a kindly look, and awaken a gladsome cheer 
on life's journey. 

And now, as the book is ready to take its chance in the 
world — and I suppose it has a proper right to do so — by what 
name shall it be called ? To avoid a formal and ambitious, 
as well as a far-fetched and merely fanciful title, and yet 
choose one appropi'iate and suggestive, not to sa^^ ' taking* — a 



VI PREFACE. 

selection was at length made that seems to harmonize with 
the contents of the volume. Most of these Poems have direct 
reference, either to scenes in nature, disclosed and beautified 
in the Sunlight, or to domestic relations and events, whose 
hallowed charms glow in the Hearthlight. If such a title seem 
to exclude clouds and shadows, and thus be not sufficiently 
expressive ; let it not be forgotten that, in this world, light 
always implies shade. It is believed that a cheerful and 
healthy tone pervades the volume, and that its somberest 
pictures have silvery gleams, or something of the interming- 
ling hues of a golden sunset. May it please, and do good ! 

New-Haven, October, 1855. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE. 

PREFACE, 3 

FIDELITY 13 

FRIEND OF MY HEART 55 

THE REALM OF SCIENCE 58 

EPITAPHIAN GO 

THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR 61 

ROGER WILLIAMS'S ROCK 69 

THE DEAD CHILD 73 

FLOWERS OF FRIENDSHIP 75 

REQUIEM 77 

LINES, WITH A BOUQUET 79 

NEW-ENGLAND 84 

THE DAUGHTER'S WELCOME 87 

THE LAST OF HIS RACE 69 

TO .AIY W^IFE 95 

THE KAREN VILLAGE 103 

THE HEAVENLY FRIEND J-^^ 



VIU CONTENTS. 

FAGC. 

DEDICATORY ilYMN 125 

ETERNITY AND THE SOUL 127 

THE LEPER CLEANSED 129 

A CHRISTIAN LYRIC 132 

THE MORNING STAR 139 

LITTLE HATTIE 141 

THE HOUSE OF PRAYER 144 

JUDSON LEAVING ST. HELENA 146 

THE DEPARTED YEAR— ITS SONG 152 

SONNETS : 

EVENING MUSINGS 163 

TRUTH 167 

MARGARET M. DAVIDSON 168 

"JESUS WEPT" . - 169 

AUTUMN WINDS 170 

THE STARS 172 

GENIUS 173 

"GOD IS LOVE" 174 

THE GRAVE OF MRS. DAVIDSON 175 

COLLEGE PRAYER MEETING 176 

"WE ALL DO FADE AS A LEAF" 177 

WAR 178 

THE UNION 179 

THE CENTURY PREACHER 180 



CONTENTS-. IX 

PAGE. 

THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - ..... 181 

THE OLD YEAR 182 

THE NEW YEAR 183 

MY MOTHER 184 

POMONA AND FLORA 185 

SIXTEEN TO-DAY 188 

MY FATHER 191 

ALL ALONE, MY BABY BOY 196 

MINNEHAHA 199 

ANGEL ALLIES 207 

MINISTERING SPIRITS 2.8 

NETHER SPIRITS 231 

MORAL TRIUMPH 238 

DIES IR^ 241 

NOTES 247 



FIDELITY. 



14 FIDELITY. 

Not Jove's clear look, nor fiery face of Mars, 
Nor Lima's flowing flood of crystal spray, 
Nor lesser lights that deep in ether play, 

And guide, if not the mariner, perchance 

Ascending spirits on their heavenward way. 

Or those that visit us with friendly glance — 

Not these are sought or seen, to bid my song 
advance. 

Not where the eye surveys heaven's jeweled 
dome, 
From shadowy mount, or mirrored in the 
streams 
Where lovers walk, or fairies make their home, 
Whose beauty, in its grace or grandeur, seems 
The charmed perfection of ideal dreams — 
Not there am I to shape these wayward lines ; 

Around me Nature not with glory teems: 
Alone, a quiet room myself confines. 
And there my faithful Lamp in silence on me 
shines. 



FIDELITY. 15 

While four Olympiads have dawned and passed, 
Fraught with the varying scenes of student 
life, 
'Mid calm retreats, and stormy conflicts cast. 
Where all one's powers were marshaled in the 

strife, 
To bide events with high importance rife, 
And win its good as every epoch came. 
From taking books until one takes a wife. 
And hath a ' habitation and a name ' — 
That crystal lamp, at eve, has shed on me its 
flame. 



Now, as I write, how sweet its beaming smile ! 

The same as when at first T saw its ray ; 
Though oft in peril, not from conscious guile. 

But some mishap or jar on journeying way. 

Some fearful fall that threatened its decay, 
'Tis yet unharmed, as in its early prime, 

Surviving all the dangers of its day. 



16 FIDELITY. 

And giving light along the track of time, 

To help a problem out, or find the wanted rhyme. 



On my first task in Latin, and in Greek, 
And Algebra, its quiet beams did pour ; 

Lit the fair leaves where C^sar, Yirgil, speak, 
And blinder pages of Athenian lore : 
Grave declamations practiced o'er and o'er, 

It saw, and patiently it burned while crude 
Essays were writ, which lofty subjects bore, 

While reason's road, or fancy's flight pursued, 

Led into eager realms, where sages scarce intrude. 



Prom Freshman's wondrous dawn to Senior's 
ending, 
Along the path that intervening lies. 

As every step is higher still ascending, 

While years move slow, and anxious eras rise. 
That seem momentous, towering to the skies ; 



FIDELITY. 17 

That Lamp, companion of my evening hours, 
Looked on each changing scene with kindly- 
eyes, 
Marked the fierce struggle of conflicting powers, 
And seemed, at last, to pour its rays in smiling 
showers. 



On Theologic themes and terms it shhied ; 

On letters used by Abraham of old ; 
And, sure, on Letters of another kind, 

Whose sweet translations may not here be told. 

While later years of studious care have rolled, 
My Lamp hath been to me a faithful friend ; 

And may it better tasks than this behold, 
As life, like wasting oil, speeds to its end ; 
But ne'er shall fade the scenes that in its history 
bjpnd. 



2* 



18 FIDELITY. 

How strong the ties that bind us to the years, 
That marked our early toils and hopes and fears ; 
What blending accents linger on the ear, 
As Memory wakes a thousand visions dear ; 
Rests on each spot that cheers the gladdened gaze, 
Bright with the beauty of departed days ; 
Heareth each echoing footstep as it falls, 
Down the long passage through her ample halls ; 
And lives those golden-tinted hours anew, 
As pleasing scenes come thronging to the view. 

There, robed in verdure, are dear native hills, 
And quiet vales where sport the cu'cling rills ; 
There the familiar scenes where childhood hours 
Glided along as in enchanted bowers ; 
Where kindred voices, in aifection heard. 
The gushing raptures of the spirit stirred ; 
Where loving hearts and kindly-speakifig eyes 
Bade many a beam of hope and gladness rise. 
That clustered round those early days so bright, 
And gave young life its innocent delight. 



FIDELITY. 19 

As come the winds that o'er the A^^lleys sweep, 
As rush the moiintam torrents to the deep, 
As angel guardians from the world above, 
To us descend, the ministers of love ; 
So fondest memories tripping from the Past, 
Their magic spell o'er all the spirit cast. 

The seaman turns, amid the ocean's roar, 
To watch the hills upon his native shore ; 
The weary pilgrim, wont afar to roam. 
Hastes to the kindred of his early home ; 
And children, straying from maternal care. 
Are glad again its fond embrace to share ; 
So round remembered scenes, with radiant wings, 
Enraptured Thought in kind affection clings. 

The strong attractions of a mystic power 
Link oiu' existence to the present hour. 
And chain our wondrous being, as it rolls 
Along its pathway to the land of souls, 



20 FIDELITY. 

To what it sees, and hears, performs, and knows, 
Wliile onward its mysterious current flows. 
And yet the Present — with its teeming life, 
Its might of energy and glorious strife. 
Its hoarded wealth of nature, and of mind. 
Art's vast, unmeasured stores of every kind. 
The rich profusion that around us springs. 
And so to all, its joy and blessing brings — 
Hath still a strong alliance with the Past, 
Is therewith bound by ties that always last. 
The stream of Progress, as it forward goes, 
Can never lose the fountain whence it rose. 
Much of its present beauty and its power 
It owes to treasures of a by-gone hour. 
The thousand comforts that around us shine, 
The richest blessings of the Hand Divine, 
The lovely flowers that in our pathway bloom, 
The heavenly beams that light the darkened 

tomb. 
Are garnered fruit from seed long sown before, 
And precious wealth from toils that others bore 



FIDELITY. 21 

Our thoughts go back amid the hopes and fears 
That fill the measure of two hundred years ; 
And where this beauteous City's ample arms^ 
Embrace so much of life and art and charms, 
Whose ancient Elms, arch-crowned, majestic, 

grand, 
In grateful pride and shadowy glory stand, 
A simple village in the woodland lay — 
A few rude dwellings overlooked the Bay. 
No merchant-ships came thronging to the shore, 
To pile along these wharves their freighted store ; 
The red man roved the trackless forest through. 
Or plied his bark upon yon waters blue ; 
The same twin Hills, with bold and rocky brow. 
Of this sweet vale were sentinels as now ; 
And at their feet those streams in silence rolled, 
That all these glories of to-day enfold. 
But those were faithful hearts that gathered here. 
From whose stern labors precious fruits appear ; 
Their deeds and holy virtues can not die, 
Linked with the world immortal in the sky. 



22 FIDELITY. 

They lived for ns — they toiled for coming time, 
And left their works as monuments sublime. 
The Christian Faith that made the forest-treo 
God's house of prayer, of worship true and free. 
Dwells with us still — the heart's deep life and 

power, 
Its strong support in trial's heaviest hour : 
And now in many a sacred temple fair. 
That faith finds utterance in truth and prayer. 

Such the fidelity to Truth and Toil, 
That wins from passing life a priceless spoil ; 
That fills a present cup with purest bliss, 
And gains a world beyond the bounds of this ; 
That makes the actions of a fleeting hour 
Go down to future times with living power. . 

O sweet Fidelity ! with beams divine, 
O'er Nature's boundless realm thy beauties shine : 
Thy kingdom stretches to the distant sky — 
All that we see, and wher? the curious eye 



FIDELITY. 23 

Hath never scanned 'the infinite expanse, 
That spreads Jn glory to Jehovah's glance ; 
Where hang the curtains of the heavens afar, 
Spangled and gemmed with many a beaming star ; 
Where darts the comet on its wings of light, 
Beyond the hounds of Fancy's farthest flight ; 
Where planets, mcous, or suns, or systems dwell ; 
Centers unmoved, or mighty cycles tell : 
These thou dost guide through every passing 

hour. 
Obedient all to Heaven's resistless power. 

The ceaseless rolling of old ocean's tides ; 
The spirit of the winds that o'er them glides ; 
The storm-rocked billows leaping to the sky. 
Roused by the tempest as it thunders by, 
Move not at will or self-controlling choice ; 
They hear a still and soft, but mighty voice, 
That sounds their depths and echoes o'er their 

crest, 
Bids them awake or sink away to rest. 



24 F I D E L I T y = 

ThuSj once upon the Galilean Sea, 
The fearful floods were dancing \\rild and free ; 
Dark, threatening clouds the face of heaven con- 
cealed. 
And darker waves approaching woe revealed ; 
Howled the tornado with appalling breath, 
As swift and fierce it came, portending death 
To those whose bark was trembling in the storm. 
Whose spirits quailed before its wrathful form, 
Till He, who now in softest slumber lay, 
Was waked, and stood amid the dashing spray. 
His brow was placid, and divine his mien. 
As out he gazed on that terrific scene ! 
Above his head the livid lightning played ; 
High on a foaming wave the vessel swayed : 
He spake — and quick as thought the surges sleep ; 
A hallowed calm pervades the awful deep — 
The clouds retire — the winds obey his Avill — 
They heard their Maker's mandate : Peace, he 
still ! 



F I D E L I T Y . 25 

Daughter of Heaven ! — for thou art all divine — 
The Seasons' varied affluence is thine : 
The soft south wind, hke spirit-kindling breath, 
That wakes fair Spring from Winter's icy death; 
The smihng sunbeams faUing from the sky, 
As drops of Hfe from Nature's glowing eye. 
That call from earth's wide fields or garden bowers, 
The lovely sisterhood of laughing flowers, 
Bright in their dew-crowns, dancing in the breeze, 
Or charmed by bird-songs swelling from the trees. 

Thine, gorgeous Summer that with richness teems, 
And beauties brighter than a fairy's dreams ; 
Maturing fruits and fields of golden grain — 
Blest harvests waving o'er the whitened plain ; 
Now gladdened by the coming, grateful cloud, 
That pours free bounty from its darkling shroud ; 
Now blushing in the fire-bolt's flashing light, 
Then trembling in the voiceful thunder's might. 
That leaps the awful heaven with fearful bound. 
And shakes its corridors with deafening sound. 



28 FIDELITY. 

Along the margin of the ice-crowned wood, 
The birch-trees tall in clustering columns stood : 
NoAv, 'neath the weight of tesselated gems, 
They bow their heads and sparkling diadems. 
And with their rainbow forms, in reverence meet. 
Pay humble homage at the Creator's feet. 
Type of that bright, Apocalyptic scene, 
Where ransomed ones in heavenly courts con- 
vene, 
And joyously Emmanuel's scepter own. 
As 'mid the glories of his dazzling throne, 
Each grateful spirit, bending lowly down, 
Casts at his gracious feet a star-lit crown. 
While climbs the sun the cloudless winter sky 
Warm lines of golden light come sweeping by, 
And silvery jewels from the branches clip. 
That drop, and down the glacial siu'face trip. 
And faster fall and roll, and louder sound, 
Till all the woods and vales and hills around. 
Are full of melody so sweet and clear, 
That buoyant trees, relieved, rise up to hear. 



FIDELITY. 29 

Stupendous Nature, in its charms and power— 
The roUing planet, and the smiling flower ; 
The glorious harmony of endless change ; 
Earth's vast domain, and heaven's unmeasured 

range ; 
Spirits of light — the insect of the sod ; — 
All these are thine, obedient to their God. 

Daughter of Heaven ! how pure thy lovely sway, 
In yon untainted world of perfect day ! 
The holy influence of thy golden chain 
Circles the angel host and ransomed train ; 
If on their joyful flights from star to star, 
Sent to the good of this dark land afar. 
Or if within the emerald gates they shine, 
They own thy power and feel its charm divine. 

And thou wast present when this wondrous earth 

Rose faultless, fair and glorious at its birth ; 

When all beneath, and beaming heavens above 

Bore the bright impress of Eternal Love ; 
3* 



30 



D E L I T Y 



When Godlike Man, of free, majestic mien, 
Was the vicegerent of the new-formed scene ; 
And Woman came, fair as the morning light — 
The choicest boon that met his raptured sight ; 
And o'er that Eden home celestials sang. 
And stars, entranced, with heavenly music rang. 

Thy presence was with him so wont of old, 
Communion sweet with Deity to hold. 
Who ne'er Death's dark, sepulchral valley trod. 
But here and up to glory ' walked with God.' 

Thy guiding hand the faithful Patriarch led. 
As toward Moriah's sacred mount he sped. 
And reared an altar to Jehovah there. 
Nor sought his loved and only child to spare. 

And gentle Ruth, sweet gleaner of the field, 
Thy pleasing power and sympathy revealed. 
As her unchanging filial love declared 
The lot of Naomi should all be shared ; 



FIDELITY. 31 

Her path, her rest, though mantled o'er with 

gloom. 
Her humble life and death and lowly tomb. 



O, if the curious eye had power to trace 
Each splendid palace and each humbler place, 
Where dwells the lofty or the lowly mind. 
In many a chosen spot 'twould gladly find, 
That Love, with Peace and Purity, resides 
Where this sweet flower, Fidelity, abides. 

Yon cheerful cottage, half obscured by trees, 
Fanned by the pinions of the summer breeze, 
Where mingled light and shadows softly stray. 
And love to linger through tlie livelong day — 
Holds Beauty's form, round whose pure soul 

enshrined, 
Their sweetest charms the heavenly graces wind. 
Glad in a father's kindling smile she lives, 
And shares the quenchless love a mother giver. 



32 FIDELITY. 

Oft have her kindly deeds brought sweet relief, 
To stricken hearts that feel the load of grief ; 
Oft hath her angel voice the aching spirit blest, 
And calmed its surging woes to grateful rest : 
The mourner's friend and lonely orphan's guide, 
The fount of sorrowing tears she oft hath dried : 
The light of home, its jeweled wealth and prize, 
The cynosure of village hearts and eyes — 
Her glad young years serenely glide away, 
While Virtue's life and joys crown every day. 

'Tis summer eve, and earth is heavenly fair, 
Hushed is the hum of toil, and slumbers care ; 
The soft, love-hallowed moon ascends the sky, 
And each pure star, appears a seraph's eye. 
While toward yon cottage home a youth is seen. 
With buoyant footsteps, hasting o'er the green, 
To meet that lovely one who waits to hear 
His well-known tread or see his form appear. 
His was a faithful heart that well might share 
The pure affection of his chosen fair. 



FIDELITY. 



33 



Oft meeting thus when daily toils were done, 
Their loving spirits blended into one. 
Along the cheerful walk, adown the leafy glade, 
Together oft with lightsome hearts they strayed ; 
On nature gazed, around, beneath, above — 
Felt her rapt charms and heard her voice of love ; 
Reading to each the thoughtful, glowing page, 
Communed they oft with poet and with sage ; 
And while in converse sweet their spirits young 
To each in holier love and friendship clung. 

Years of delight have swept their peaceful round, 
Since those glad hearts in fondest ties were bound ; 
In rite that Eden blest, their vows to Heaven, "*■ 
And mutual pledge, in trusting faith were given. 
That gentle one, from earlier joys and cares, 
Went forth encircled with parental prayers. 
To light another home, to cheer a faithful heart, 
And know the bliss domestic scenes impart. 

How blest that sacred love so pure and sweet, 
That sheds its fragrance in the home retreat, 



34 



FIDELITY 



Binding with golden links each heart to heart 
And stronger grows as comes the hour to part ; 
Lives in the joys that heavenly bounty brings, 
In shadows dark that drop from Sorrow's Avings, 
And every change, that marks the lapse of time, 
Revealed in stillness, or in scenes sublime. 
From youth's glad freshness to the coming stage, 
Where life expires or sinks in honored age. 
Thrice happy home ! the blest abode of peace, 
Where faith and love and sympathy increase ; 
Where every tone, from childhood's ringing glee. 
Touches responsive chords of harmony ; 
Endearing ties make every object dear, 
And hope and gladness crown each passing year. 

Sweet is the cheerful voice of prayer and praise, 
That love-bound hearts at holy altars raise, 
As early sunbeams round the dwelling shine, 
Bright with a glory and a care divine ; 
As evening twilight with her lingering smiles, 
To heavenly thoughts the grateful heart beguiles : 



FIDELITY. 35 

As comes that day, the holiest of the seven, 
When rests o'er earth the sacredness of Heaven, 
And with meek worshipers are gladly trod, 
The earthly comts of our benignant God. 



Heaven-born Fidelity ! the patriot soul. 
In love to country, feels thy blest control : 
Thy spirit stirs the bosoms of the free — 
Their kindling anthems are inspired by thee. 

Compelled to arms, for home and land and right, 
And hasting, dauntless, to the fearful fight. 
What battle-fields have drunk the patriot's blood, 
For Freedom flowing hi a crimson flood ! 

What monuments and blazing records tell 
How fought the faithful or how nobly fell ! 
And brighter yet shall grow their deathless fame, 
Wliile tyrant heroes sink in endless shame ! 



36 FIDELITY. 

Great Washington ! in virtue all sublime ; 
The gift of God — the heritage of Time ! 
O name immortal ! of celestial birth ; 
Grander than mountain monuments of earth ; 
Unfading as the stars that glow by night ; 
Refulgent as the sun's unclouded light ; 
Sacred to childhood, early taught the word ; 
Beacon of lands by Revolution stirred ; 
Revered by all whom heaven's broad arches span ; 
Graved on the heart of universal man ; 
Unspotted as the snow that Winter brings ; 
Melodious as the song that Freedom sings ; 
Bright in the past on all that patriots claim ; 
Splendid in future as eternal Fame ! 



O, dear-bought, native land ! of thee I sing ; 
For thee and Freedom touch each trembling 

string ; 
Home of the brave, of Liberty and Truth, 
Fair and majestic in thy peerless youth — 



FIDELITY. 37 

What voice thy rising greatness can portray ? 
What language trace thine onward, upward way ? 
The star of empire, toward the brightening West, 
Leaving the Orient world in gloom to rest. 
Ascends the everlasting arches high. 
And beams resplendent in thy glorious sky. 

Here Freedom finds a home — upon the soil 

Made sacred by the blood of patriot-toil : 

And here her gleaming, star-gemmed banner 

waves, 
Along the shore the proud Atlantic laves ; 
O'er fair New-England's granite hills sublime, 
Whose storm-beat brows defy the blasts of Time ; 
By the green margin of her Merrimack, 
And loved Connecticut, a crystal track ; 
Where flows the Hudson in romantic pride. 
With beauty, grandeur, mirrored in its tide ; 
Where Lake George sleeps, and Erie's waters 

pour. 
Charged with the thunder of Niagara's roar ; 



38 FIDELITY. 

Along the Susquehanna's verdant vale, 

And where Ohio's yellow waters trail ; 

Where the blue Catskills kiss the passing cloud, 

And AUeghanies rise, rock-ridged and proud ; 

Above the land whose broad savannas lie 

Beneath the radiance of a suniiier sky ; 

Along the prairies of the giant West, 

In whose encircling arms young empires rest ; 

Beyond Nevada — o'er the Golden State, 

Born like Minerva, strong and free and greal ! 

Bright be thy course — thy glorious, high career — 
Land of the free ! to patriot freemen dear : 
Hope of the world, thou art — be Heav.n thy 

friend ; 
In Peril's roughest, gloomiest day, defend ; 
Palsy the arm that lifts its maddened power. 
To dash the hopes of many an anxious hour, 
And sunder ties that bind us to the years 
That gave these blessings, bought with blood 

and tears ; 



FIDELITY. 39 

Hush Passion's storm — bid all thy foes delay, 
And speed thee onward in thy brightening way ; 
And as thy stars increase, let every gem 
Be set in Freedom's glorious diadem ; ' 
Haste the glad hour, beneath the reign of peace, 
When all that Truth and Right deplore, shall 
cease ! 



Genius, when faithful to its sacred trust. 
Shakes its bright pinions from corroding dust, 
And soars aloft with strength supernal given — 
Immortal radiance from tlie fires of heaven, 
Sun of the mental world, that streams afar, 
From land to land, from star to distant star — 
Sublime its march ! the glocm of ignorance 
Fades in the splendor of its heavenly glance ; 
Fetters that long have bound the human soul, 
Break and decay beneath its high control ; 
The world advances in its spreading light, 
And nations gaze, astonished at the sight ! 



40 FIDELITY. 

As peerless Milton's faithful harp was strung, 
Of Paradise, in loftiest strains he sung ; 
Soared in the highest heaven of boundless thought, 
And down to earth celestial music brought ; 
Nor shall his matchless song on earth expire, 
Till Heaven's decree shall wrap its realms in fire ! 

Immortal Bunyan, in a prisoner's cell, 
Dreamed for mankind, and they his dream can 

tell; 
Childhood delights the Pilgi^im^s v/ay to tread — 
Age wearies not through all the Progress led ; 
For Genius beams in simplest beauty there, 
And gives to Truth a charm divinely fair. 

What grandeur gilds a Newton's deathless name ! 
Bright as the stars his diadem of fame : 
Faithful to Genius, on its soaring wings. 
Rising o'er earth's stupendous little things. 
His chariot 'mid the star-paved heaven he rolls, 
And there the wondrous universe beholds. 



FIDELITY. 41 

' Soiil-liberty ' announced — conception grand ! 
Grasped and retained as by a martyr's hand ; 
How burned its kindled fire with deathless flame, 
Along the path of exile and of shame ! 
It lives — it spreads — a waking world is blest 
By thoughts that glowed in Roger Williams' 
breast ! 

A youth obscure, by Genius' spirit fired, 
Became the Franklin, of the world admired, 
Who converse Avith the mighty thunder held. 
And reasoned till its fearful power was quelled ; 
Climbing the clouds where fiery torrents sped, 
He wove a wreath of lightning for his head ! 

Another name — in sadness be it spoke ; 
All sorrowed as the golden bowl was broke — 
True son of Genius, from an humble state, 
Rose to surpassing heights among the great ; 
In silent awe his prophet-voice was heard. 

And wisdom, eloquence, enshrined each word. 

4* 



42 FIDELITY. 

A nation mourns — the Capitol, in gloom, 
Laments the mighty trophy of the tomb ; 
On all New-England's hills a pall descends, 
And its deep shadow o'er the world extends ; 
'Neath Marshfield's drooping elms, he loved so 

well, 
Is Webster's grave — the ocean-surge his knell ! 

Triumphant Genius ! onward speed thy course, 
Till farthest realms shall feel thy conquering 

force ; 
Faithful to thee, thy sons have wonders wrought, 
And splendid trophies to thy feet have brought ; 
Invention's teeming sphere exploring still, 
No boundary marks their inexhaustive skill ; 
What startling revelations hence shall rise ? 
What subtle powers a Avaiting world surprise ? 
O where, on earth, in air, shall active mind 
Cease to advance — its utmost limit find ? 
Spanned by the pinions of all-mastering Steam, 
Wide ocean waters but a ferry seem : 



FIDELITY. 43 

Proud mountains bow — ^bridged o'er are streams 

and vales, 
And on the lengthened, level track of rails. 
The Iron Steed sublime, with lightning eye, 
And thunder-tramp, runs rushing by 
Bearing its mighty load of Hving souls, 
Or countless wealth to destined station rolls ! 

Aloft in air — suspended o'er the head — 
Swing the long sections of metallic thread — 
Nerve of the throbbing world's commercial life, 
Highway of mind, with thought and impulse rife, 
Where to our words electric wings are lent. 
And distant millions catch the message sent ! 

Grand is the thought, and every heart elates, 
When all this glorious sisterhood of States, 
The self-same day declares, with silent voice, 
By freemen's franchise, for its chief and choice : 
Scarce done the ballot-battle, peaceful fonght. 
Ere winged words its mighty work hath taught ! 



44 FIDELITY. 

Go to the Pnlpit, or Instructor's chair — 
See sweet Fidelity presiding there! 

The faithful Teacher, with a lowly charge — 
What loftier station ? or what field more large ? 
Each of that group, by humble walls confined, 
Presents the grandeur of immortal mind ! 
Rude it may be and like the marble block, 
Ere sculptor's chisel shapes the quarried rock ; 
But, as the image comes by toil at length; 
Complete in beauty, symmetry and strength. 
So plastic spirits, in the teacher's hand. 
To more than artist-excellence expand. 
His, more potential than the monarch's sway, 
Directs the mind that in a coming day, 
Shall be itself the nation's grateful pride. 
And o'er its high and growing hopes preside. 
Succeeding Senates in the halls of State, 
Judge, and diplomatist, and magistrate, 
That yet shall rule in wisdom, or disgrace 
The sacred trust that gives them power and place ; 



FIDELITY. 45 

The future teachers of our spreading land, 
In all their spheres of toil, a countless band ; 
The CHRisT-called ministers of faith and love, 
That yet shall point the world to Heaven above. 
And those who fill that Heaven as ages roll. 
And those who fail to reach that glorious goal — 
These are the pupils of our land to-day, 
Empires of mind — how great ! — to guide and 
sway. 

O grave of Gallaudet ! thy precious boon- 
Was claimed for its still chamber — ah ! too soon ! 
Though sleeps the loved one there, his honored 

name 
Beams in the beauty of a well-earned fame ; 
His hallowed worth and genius long shall live, 
And still to thousands choicest lessons give. 
O, if the dumb could speak — our humble lays 
Would fall how far beneath their glowing praise ! 
O, if the deaf could hear — our words reveal 
But shadows of the grateful thoughts they feel ! 



46 FIDELITY. 

Let soiTow-stricken hearts, by anguish heaved, 
Through kmdly ministrations calmed, reheved, 
By heavenly comisels sweetly soothed to rest, 
Rise up and call the sacred teacher blest. 

The Christian Shepherd, servant of his Loed, 
How blest his life — how rich his high reward ! 
The almoner of joy, he scatters far 
The life-fraught radiance of Bethlehem's Star ; 
He walks the lowly path the saints have trod, 
Directs the erring to the Lamb of God ; 
Beside the dying couch he kneels in prayer, 
Brings the sweet messages of mercy there'; 
The mourning spirit of its sorrow heals. 
Weeps Avith the weeping and their sadness feels 
Though worldlings frown and infidels deride, 
Life have its ' Shady' as its ' Sunny Side,' 
He joys to struggle with the hosts of sin, 
And holy triumphs for the Cross to win ; 
To roll from earth the whelming tide of woe, 
And bid celestial streams of gladness flow ; 



FIDELITY. 47 

The wrathful douds of darkness to dispel, 
That gather thickly from the gloom of hell ; 
To paint the smiling bow of heavenly grace, 
The one bright hope of a despairing race ; 
And lead the pilgrim-flock in wisdom's way, 
To life and glory and immortal day ! 

O ! such was he, whose saintly form and brow^ 
Low in a new-filled tomb are sleeping now ! 
Whose flowing locks in snowy whiteness crowned, 
In the glad way of righteousness were found. 
A watchman, long on Zion's wall he stood, 
Guiding the ^vayward, cheering on the good ; 
A faithful Pastor through the wasting years. 
Swerved not from truth by flatteiy or fears ; 
His heart, with largest charity imbued, 
A brother found in every soul renewed ; 
'Mid all the changes of a long career, 
No stains on his consistent life appear ; 
Erect and bold, and yet with humble grace, 
He filled with honor his exalted place. 



48 FIDELITY. 

Thousands upon his hps have grateful hung, 
While truth divine on every ear hath rung, 
In sacred eloquence, sincere, sublime, • 
Like prophet-voices from a higher clime ; 
But we, those tones, so rich and full and clear, 
No more, amid our festal scenes, shall hear ; 
Not ours, but angel ears in glory bright. 
List to his spirit-strains with rapt delight. 
Long here shall linger like some heavenly harp, 
The blessed memory of Daniel Sharp. 

Where yonder ship lies waiting by the shore, 
See gathering groups at early noon-tide pour : 
Sweetly the voice of praise and prayer ascends, 
And faithful hearts to heavenly care commends. 
Why long those veteran spirits to return ? 
Why for yon fields of toil and sorrow yearn ? 
Why leave those youth endearing scenes of home. 
And haste far o'er the swelling flood and foam ? 
Why to loved kindred bid a last farewell, 
'Mid perils in a pagan land to dwell ? 



FIDELITY. 49 

O, ask me not, each heaveu-borii spirit cries ; 
Baholdj a world in sin and sorrow lies ! 
Here we surrender all the heart may claim, 
And life itself, for Jesus' precious name ! 
Gladly we go, Truth's heavenly light to bear 
To the lone dwellers in Death's shadows there ; 
Reveal the pathway to the Christian's tomb, 
And cause the desert like the rose to bloom. 

The last adieu to friends and kindred given, 
Moved by selectest gales from favoring Heaven, 
The freighted vessel from her mooring starts, 
And bears away those missionary hearts. 

O, clap your hands, ye ocean isles afar. 
And catch the glimmering of the Morning Star ! 
Rejoice, ye heathen lands ! awake, and sing ! 
Welcome the heralds of the Heavenly King ! 
Be glad, each lowly vale, and mountain high. 
Morn breaks, and your redeeming hour is nigh ! 



50 FIDELITY. 

O, soon, from all your darkened realms shall rise 
The soul's pure incense to the upper skies ! 
Temples of Boodh and Brahma shall decay, 
Long-cherished idol-worship pass away, 
And the broad Banner of the Cross unfurled. 
Shall float triumphant o'er a ransomed world ! 

How sink earth's wealth and honors all away, 
Seen in the light of that approaching day, 
When this fair globe and yonder spheres sublime 
Shall perish in the awful wreck of time ! 

How small the prize for which the hero fought. 
Placed by the glory that a Newell sought ; 
And how shall fade the warrior's great renown, 
Before the splendor of a Jud son's crown ! 

Fidelity ! how beamed thy glory then. 
As Christ's abode was with the sons of men ! 
In His redeeming work through love begun, 
How faithful till its closing act was done ! 



FIDELITY. 51 

The Wonderful whom prophet-visions saw, 
Mortals surveyed with strange, mysterious awe, 
While at his word was stilled the tempest's breath. 
Fled dire disease, and life came back from death ! 
Dark demons trembled, and with wild dismay, 
Shrieked in His presence and forsook their prey. 
O ! let mankind their sinful deeds deplore — 
Insult and scorn from lying lips he bore ; 
At midnight in the vale where Cedron flows, 
His soul's deep agony to heaven arose ; 
On his pure brow the treacherous kiss was flung — 
His direful doom pronounced by human tongue ; 
Mantled in shame to Calvary's height was led, 
The thorn-wove garland on his holy head ; 
The skies grew black, and shuddering nature 

cried, 
As on the Cross the world's Redeemer died ! 
Up, from the bondage of sepulchral gloom, 
He rose majestic from the vanquished tomb. 
The captor captive led, as bright on high, 
His angel-chariots cleaved the distant sky, 



52 FIDELITY. 

Whence, in the grandeur of the heavenly train, 
Astonished earth shall see him come again ; 
Oat from their graves the startled dead shall spring, 
Saints with immortal raptures greet their King ; 
And, as undying woes o'erwhelm his foes. 
The last grand drama of the world shall close ! 

Lingers the song — perchance your patience tires ; 
The evening speeds, the allotted hour expires ; 
The theme must drop, my tedious numbers cease ; 
But God's great work goes on, to win, increase ; 
The ages are its field, our race its aim ; 
Truth is its guide — eternity its fame ! 

Hark ! on the still, soft, ambient air of even, 
Steal sweet, entrancing symphonies of heaven, 
As if had strayed from yon celestial choirs. 
Pure angel forms that tune ethereal lyres. 
And bending o'er us now on viewless wings, 
Thev breathe the song each faithful spirit sings 



FIDELITY. 53 

Mortal ! wake ! the spell is broken ! 

God hath made thy spirit free ; 
On it he hath stamped the token 
Of thy being yet to be ! 

In the future, far outstretching, 
See the picture thou art sketching ! 

Life is not thy earthly staying ; 

Death is not to breathe thy last : 
Souls can not be here delaying ; 
Spirits live not in the past : 
Destiny is all before thee — 
Lo ! its star is beaming o'er thee ! 

Art thou faithful ? upward tending ? 

Glory waiteth for thee there ! 
Art thou faithless ? Life's dark ending 
Sinks thee downward to despair ! 
Ask thy spirit where it goeth — 
duestion closely — for it knoweth ! 

5* 



54 FIDELITY. 

Mark the path thy feet are treading — 

See thy foot-prints left behind : 
What the influence thou art spreading 
In the commonweakh of Mind ? 
Raiseth it toward Heaven's portal, 
Longings of thy brother mortal ? 

Look upon the boundless acres, 

Where the whitening harvest stands ? 
Hear the mandate — 'tis thy Maker's — 
There employ thy heart and hands : 
Reap ! and all-enriching wages 
Shall be thine through coming ages ! 

Give thy life to earnest duty ; 
Give the energy of youth : 
Then shall scenes of glorious beauty 
Crown fidelity to truth ' 

Earth shall bless thee for thy living — 
Heaven shall ring with thy thanksgiving ! 



ritnb of mil peart. 



As o'er the past, the hallowed past, reflection 
softly sweeps. 

And quick revives the pleasing scenes that mem- 
ory fondly keeps, 

A thrill of joy, in these blest thoughts, steals o'er 
my spirit's chords. 

And wakens there a melody too pure for mortal 
words. 
I cannot sing that rapturous song — 
The heart alone can still prolong 

Its blissful, life-inspiring strains, so sweet, so 
deep, so strong. 



56 FRIEND OF MY HEART. 

How like an angel near to me thy lovely image 
seems ! 

It comes to bless my solitude — to beautify my 
dreams. 

I hear again thy pleasing voice, I see thy win- 
ning smile ; 

And O, how favored to commune with one so 
free from guile ! 
I would not break the magic spell ; 
I would not those emotions quell, 

That fill the fountains of the soul as from a 
crystal well. 

How sweet the time, how full of joy, how swift 
it rolled away, 

When in thy presence I have passed the linger- 
ing hours of day ; 

When we have gazed on nature fair, around, 
beneath, above ; 

And felt her inspiration deep, and heard her 
voice of love ; 



FRIEND OF MY HEART. 5/ 

Or when we sought the place of prayer, 
And paid our souls' devotions there ; 
Such hallowed hours of fond delight, O ! would 
we oft might share. 

When other scenes shall greet your eye, and 
other friends are found. 

Where nature in her loveliness smiles gloriously 
around ; 

O, say, will then, as back you gaze, a thought 
to me be given ? 

And shall I be remembered in the prayer you 
breathe to heaven ? 
Friend of my heart ! where'er I turn, 
Thy lovely image I discern ; 

With me it dwells and still shall live in mem- 
ory's sacred urn. 



Clje |italm of Btmtt 

The Realm of Science widely spreads, 
All boundless are its vast domains ; 

Majestic mountains lift their heads, 
And smile upon the beauteous plains. 

Deep winding vales, with verdure crowned, 
Extend through all this blooming land ; 

Here silvery lakes and streams abound. 
And breezy forests old and grand. 

Exhaustles mines of glittering gold 
Beneath the flowery surface lie ; 

Above is gloriously unrolled 

The star-bright banner of the sky. 



THE REALM OF SCIENCE. 59 

How beautiful the Scholar's World ! 

What lovely scenes are here enshrined ! 
What radiant splendors are unfurled, 

To glad the eye and feast the mind ! 

Ho ! come, and climb its peerless hills, 
Range by its pearly-margined tides, 

While deepening joy thy spirit thrills. 
And wisdom every footstep guides. 

Turn from the cares of sordid strife, 
Let nobler ends thy labor claim ; 

Here consecrate the powers of life. 
And reach the goal of heavenly fame ! 



^pitapljiaii 



Sweet flower of love, though faded here, 
And o'er thee falls the sorrowmg tear, 
Faith sees thy charms in Heaven appear. 



The night will end — the morning break ; 
The cherished dust shall then awake ; 
Who sleep in Jesus, God will take. 



^\t Cljristiiiit ikbiatjr. 

Morn smiled on Rome. Bright from the oiient 

sky, 
Serene and fair, the golden sunlight fell 
In floods of glory on the Eternal City. 
All beautiful — the world's metropolis — 
Peerless she sat upon her seven glad hills, 
Amid the windings of the Tiber's course. 
Wrapt in the gorgeous drapery of light, 
Her gold-enameled towers and glittering domes 
Threw back the splendor of the glorious sun. 
And rivaled him in beauty. Monuments 
And Pyramids — the spoils of Egypt's art — 
Whose sun-lit summits kissed the bending sky, 
Stood in imposing grandeur. Crystal founts 



62 THECHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 

Leapt from their hidden channels and diffused 
Upon the ambient air their silvery spray. 
Tall, dark and tJeautiful, the spreading elms 
Waved their dense foliage o'er the public walks, 
And threw their shadows on the Capitol. 
The Forum, stretching toward the Palatine, 
Along whose fresco-ceilings oft had rolled 
The thunder-tones of Roman eloquence. 
Was there — and Nero's residence of gold, 
A thousand palaces within its walls. 
Decked by the countless wealth of realms sub- 
dued. 
The Coliseum, seat of Roman sports, 
Upreared its front sublime in new and broad 
Magnificence ; and temples garnished o'er 
With living canvas and the breathing marble — 
Fit dwelling-places of immortal gods ! 

It was a festal day in Rome. The dense. 
Unnumbered multitudes, like clustering clouds 
That track the sky, had hastened to the scene 



THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 63 

Of sport, and in the Coliseum gathered — 
That wondrous relic of Vespasian's power, 
Whose heaven-aspiring walls of adamant, 
Adorned with columns, arches and arcades, 
Still strike the gazer with resistless awe. 
And there they sat, in radiant robes attired — 
The Emperor and his court, the thoughtful sage, 
And the stern warrior ; tradesmen, architects. 
Matrons and maidens, and Rome's youthful sons. 
Crowding the thousand gleaming galleries. 
That stretched away, far as the eye could reach, 
Around the Amphitheater. They came 
The fight of men with beasts untamed to view, 
And see the Christian Gladiator die, 
Unpitied, on the broad arena. 

Long 
Had the impetuous combats of the wild. 
Infuriate monsters of the forest-depths. 
And deadlier strife of reckless criminals. 
Been witnessed by the rapt, delighted throng. 



64 THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 

Who, gazing from their lofty seats, inured 
To scenes of conflict and of carnage, saw 
The scattered fragments of dismembered forms, 
The dying struggles of the vanquished foe. 
With hearts to pity closed — and gladly hailed 
The conqueror's triumph with successive shouts, 
Sweeping the vast enclosure round and round, 
And rolling upward to the arching skies. 
Like pealing thunders of Olympian Jove ! 

They paused — and every eye was fixed intent 

Upon the Christian Gladiator, brought 

To the arena by a Roman Lictor, 

To expiate the crime of teaching men 

A new religion. Gladly had he heard 

The touching story of the Crucified, 

As from the great Apostle's lips it fell 

In strains of soul-subduing eloquence. 

He felt — ^believed it — and celestial joy 

Filled all the channels of his soul. As forth 

He went among the people, he rebuked 



THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 65 

Their idol- worship, and proclaimed abroad 
The wonders of the Cross. The faithless laid 
Their impious hands upon the guiltless one, 
And basely dragged him to the judgment-hall. 
False, false, they witnessed and secured his doom, 
To meet in deadly strife the mightiest beast, 
Numidia's forest-king. 

The liictor led 
The Christian Gladiator forth. His sword 
Hung careless at his side. As if alone. 
Holding communion with himself, he stood 
Unmoved, and mindless of the imposing scene. 
Before him crouched his savage combatant. 
Silence had thrown upon the gazing throng 
Her magic spell. Calm was the Christian's brow, 
Erect his form — his heavenly visage won 
The sympathy of all. He bent his knee 
Upon the sand, already damp with gore. 
Clasped his pure hands together, and upraised 
His beaming eye toward heaven, and silently 

6* 



66 THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 

Implored Omnipotence to shield him round 
With a divine defense. His prayer was heard. 
The smile serene that played upon his lips 
Told how he felt the presence of that Power, 
Which erst had kept the Judah-captive safe 
In the dark den of lions. Strange emotions 
Thrilled through the multitude that almost made 
Life's crimson streams congeal. An all-pervading 
Stillness, intense, profound as that which reigns 
Amid the charnel chambers of the tomb, 
Brooded on all, like the unbroken spell 
Of death ! The lion's mane had fallen low, 
His eye had lost its wildness, and he seemed 
To shrink before the presence of his strange 
Antagonist. Urged by the Lictor's goad, 
He gathered in the majesty of might, 
And furious on the Gladiator fell. 
His sword the monster for a while repelled. 
Till overpowered by far superior strength. 
He dropped at last beneath the lion's feet ! 
Faint murmurings of mingled joy and grief 



THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 67 

Rose on the waveless air. Triumphant notes 
Began to swell — when suddenly up-sprang 
The Christian, sternly grasped his sword afresh, 
And nerved with more than earthly energy, 
He grappled with the foe anew, and bade 
His weapon drink the life-blood of his heart ! 
'Twas done — the thunder-shout of victory, 
Of life and freedom to the wondrous man, 
Sped like a whirlwind through the mighty crowd, 
And thrice it swept the Coliseum round. 
As up it rolled from tier to lofty tier. 
And echoed back from wall to answering wall ! 

Forth from the throng, and grateful to his God, 

The Christian Gladiator went, prepared 

By trial and by conquest, to surmount 

The ills of life, the wiles of Godless men — 

To publish tidings of celestial joy 

To thousands wrapt in dark idolatry, 

And bear the glorious standard of the Cross, 

Like him who '^ fought with beasts at Ephesus." 



68 THE CHRISTIAN GLADIATOR. 

He had a nobler victory still to win, 
And laurels of a brighter hue to gain ; 
'Twas his to point the way to Heaven — to save 
The lost — to wear, at last, a Crown of Life ! 



Rock by the lonely shore. 
Where briny billows roar, 

On thee I stand. 
Here erst the Indian strayed ; 
Here once his dwelling made ; 
And here his children played 

Upon the sand. 

Years rolled their circles round, 
And here they still were found — 

That red-browed race : 
Their hunting grounds were here, 
Where dwelt the bounding deer ; 
Where oft with bow and spear, 

They joined the chase. 



70 ROGER Williams's rock 

Moved by a deep desire, 
Perchance the aged sire, 

With woes opprest, 
Came here at eventide ; 
O'er all his sorrows sighed ; 
To the Great Spirit cried 

For joy and rest. 

Perchance, upon this stone, 
The trusting maid, alone, 

Hath placed her feet — 
Her lover's form to view, 
Gliding the forest through, 
Faithful and ever true. 

His love to meet. 

Once passed along this wave, 
A patriot pilgrim brave, 
Who landed here ; 
And Roger Williams then, 
As he surveyed this glen, 



ROGER WII^LIAMS^S ROCK. 71 

By wondering forest men 

Was hailed, '' What cheer V 

He met the Indian band, 
And took their friendly hand, 

Upon this stone. 
Free from oppression's rod, 
This peaceful shore he trod, 
With heartfelt praise to God, 

For kindness shown. 

Yon goodly city^s name 

Still speaks its founder's fame — 

Yes, Providence 
Tells of the guiding Power, 
That in dark peril's hour, 
Had been the Exile's tower, 

And strong defense. 

The Indian tribes are dead, 
Or far away have fled j 
No sons remain 



ROGER WILLIAMS S ROCK. 

Of painted chiefs of yore, 
AVliose warwhoops echoed o'er 
Old Narragaiisett's shore, 
In Philip's reign. 

The Exile, too, is gone, 
While years liave circled on 

Their ceaseless round. 
The truths for which he fought, 
The principles he brought. 
As this fair land he sought. 

Here yet are found. 

And still may they abide 
Along this peaceful tide : 

Till earth's last sht>ck. 
May Freedom here remain. 
Religion hold her reign. 
And Truth her sway maintain. 

Finn as this Rock I 



%k ieaU Cljillr. 



She sleeps in beauty. — Heavenly fair. 

Her little form seemed not sis dead ; 
As though an angel slumbered there, 

I gazed upon that cradle bed. 
Death's hand had touched the silver strings, 

Which bound the spirit to its clay ; 
And, as it soared on seraph wings, 

She slept — how beautiful she lay I 

She sleeps in silence. — O, how still 
And soft her peaceful slumbers are ! 

No thunde/ sound, nor clarion shrill 
Can wake that gentle sleeper there. 

The voice of friends she heeds no more, 
Nor lists, as near her grave they tread ; 



74 THE DEAD CHILD. 

Nor will that dreamless sleep be o'er, 
Till Christ shall call the silent dead. 

She dwells with Jesus. — ^Not a tear 

Will ever dim her heavenly eye ; 
For in that bright celestial sphere, 

No grief is found, nor danger nigh. 
Safe, in the Savior's gentle arms. 

Which once the little children prest, 
And clothed in purest, loveliest charms, 

She finds a sweet and peaceful rest. 

She dwells in heaven. — O, who would call 

Her radiant spirit from its home, 
And cause it here, in mortal thrall, 

This sad and sinful earth to roam ? 
Unfading are her joys above, 

And happier far that blest abode, 
Where all her endless life is love, 

Resplendent with the smile of God ! 



The Flowers of Friendship bloom 
Along the chequered path we tread, 
And oft around us sweetly shed 
Their rich perfume. 

But they are fragile flowers ; 
A cold rough blast may cause their hue 
To fade away like morning dew, 
In summer hours. 

Select, Avith choicest care, 
The purest plants in Friendship's field, 
And they shall sweetest fragrance yield, 
And blossom fair. 



76 FLOWERS OF FRIENDSHIP. 

Amid life's darkest gloom, 
Their hallowed light shall meet thine eye ; 
And, joined with friendship from the sky, 
Will bless thy tomb. 



limiient. 



Lowly in the grave reposing, 
Gentle maiden, sweetly sleep ; 

While its portals o'er thee closing, 
Shall their sacred treasure keep ; 

Till again thy youth assuming, 

Thou appear, in beauty blooming. 

Soft and silent are thy slumbers ; 

Dreamless thy long night of rest ; 
Naught of woe thy spirit cumbers, 

Welcomed now among the blest, 
Where to thee a home is given, 
'Mid the blissful bowers of Heaven. 



78 REQUIEM. 

Tears bedew the dust above thee — 
Sacred is thy peaceful tomb ; 

Planted here by those that love thee, 
Fan-est flowers shall brightly bloom, 

Pointing through their beauties vernal, 

Up to life and love eternal. 

Angel-harps and seraph-voices 

Strangely charm thy raptured soul ; 

While in gladness it rejoices, 

Free from aught of Earth's control : 

Sorrow there shall enter never — 

Youth and beauty bloom for ever. 

Rest ! upon thy couch reclining, 

While the grave its trust shall keep ; 

And as we, this life resigning, 

Fold our arms in Death's long sleep, 

May we then, the skies ascending. 



WITH A BOUQUET, TO A YOUNG FRIEND. 

How like to thee, 
These flowers, so sweetly beaming, 
While, beauty o'er them gleaming, 
And light around them streaming, 

They smile in glee. 

Well, be thou glad ; 
Enjoy a blest existence. 
Be sorrow at a distance. 
Give all ejiiiui resistance, 

And ne'er be sad. 



80 LINES. 

Rejoicing birds 
Are gaily singing o'er thee, 
All nature smiles before thee, 
Let not thy heart deplore thee, 

In mournful words. 

Dear Friend — and yet, 
Permit a little teaching, 
That comes with Truth's beseeching j 
Perhaps you'll call it preaching. 

Still, don't forget. 

This bunch of flowers. 
That I for thee have braided, 
With beauty's life pervaded. 
Will all be withered, faded, 

In a few hours. 

And so, will soon 
Earth's joys expend their measure, 



LINES. 81 

Fleeting as dreams of pleasure. 
Fickle as Fancy's treasure, 
Or clouds at noon. 

Earth's hopes, so bright, 
To future good extending. 
With scenes of beauty blending, 
Sometimes reveal their ending, 

A cheerless blight. 

The friends we love, 
Whose presence soothes our sadness. 
And fills our hearts with gladness — 
As if impelled by madness. 

Death bears above. 

Though not in this, 
Yet, in the world supernal, 
Where life is ever vernal. 
And pleasures are eternal. 

Reigns endless bliss. 



82 LINES. 

Perennial there, 
The tearless eye entrancing, 
Wherever falls its glancing, 
Celestial flowers are dancing 

'Mid balmiest air. 

And there shall meet, 
To part no more for ever, 
Th^ friends whom naught can sever ; 
For Death shall enter never 

The golden street. 

May thine, fair one. 
Be friends of true affection ; 
Be Christ your first selection, 
And yours His kind protection, 

Till life is done. 

Then shall you rise. 
All earthly hopes releasing, 



N E S . 



To scenes of bliss unceasing, 
Where joys are still increasing, 
In Paradise. 



Sweet Friend, to thee 
I bring this little token, 
Which speaks, in accents broken, 
The words I would have spoken — 

Remember tne! 



" Lives there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land." 

New-England — New-England ! 

Fair land of my birth, 
The home of my fathers — 

The brave of the earth ! 
I love thy bold mountains. 

Thy rivers and dales, 
Thy warm summer breezes. 

Thy wild winter gales ! 

New-England — New-England ! 

Blest land of the free ; 
When away from thy borders, 

My thoughts turn to thee ; 



NEW-ENGLAND. 85 

For the smile of thy daughters. 

Sweet pleasure imparts, 
And the voice of thy sons. 

Is the voice of glad hearts. 

New-England — New-England ! 

I love to recall 
The deeds of thy heroes — 

Thy history all : 
What memories linger. 

My bosom to thrill. 
Round Plymouth's old Rock — 

Over Bunker's crowned Hill r 

New-England — New-England ! 

Rich treasures are thine ; 
Thy Churches and Schools — 

May they never decline ! 
O, these are thy guerdon 

Of glory so bright, 
Since the May-Flower came — 

A new star in the night ! 



86 NEW-ENGLAND. 

New-England — New-England ! 

My heart's cherished land ; 
As long as thy mountains, 

Like battlements stand — 
As long as thy rivers, 

So freely shall flow. 
Of wrong and oppression, 

Be thou the stern foe ! 

New-England — ^New-England ! 

My dear native land ; 
Kind Heaven protect thee 

From Yandal-foe's hand : 
May Liberty's banner, 

Unstained, ever wave. 
O'er the home of the Free — 

O'er the Patriot's grave ! 



C^e §n:itgljter's Meltomt. 

My Father, dear Father ! oh welcome again, 
Where home has long waited thy presence to 
greet ; 
But loneliness here shall no longer remain — 
To-day thou hast come, and the parted ones 
meet ! 

My Father, dear Father ! the music of love, 
That wells in my heart and would rush to my 
song, 
Seems more like the tones that are chanted above, 
Than sounds that awake in the strains I pro- 
long. 



My Father, dear Father ! I welcome thee home ! 
The home on the shores of thine own happy- 
land : 
How oft have my thoughts, o'er the dark ocean's 
foam, 
Gone forth to the spot where 1 feigned thee 
to stand ! 

My Father, dear Father ! we hail thy return ! 
Thy wife and thy children all welcome thee 
here ; 
Our love in thy absence hath ceased not to burn : 
It now glows in fullness thy glad heart to 
cheer. 

My Father, dear Father ! our spirits rejoice 
As here we surround thee with pleasure once 
more : 

For this happy union, with heart and with voice, 
Our grateful thanksgiving to Heaven we pour. 



®|e fast d |is '§Mt. 

'TwAs to a dark and solitary glen, 

Amid New-England's scenery wild and bold, 
A lonely spot scarce visited by men, 

Where high the frowning hills their summits 
hold. 

And stand the storm-beat battlements of old — 
Returned at evening from the fruitless chase, 

Weary and sad, and pierced with autumn's cold^ 
And laid him mournful in his rocky place, 
The grief- worn warrior chief — ^last of his once 
proud race. 

He wrapt his mantle round his manly form. 
And sighed as on his cavern floor he lay ; 

8* 



9*J THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 

His bosom heaved with passion's varying storm, 
While he to melancholy thoughts gave way, 
And mused on deeds of many a by-gone day. 
Scenes of the past before his vision rose — 
The fearless clans o'er whom he once held 
sway, 
The bloody battle-field and vanquished foes, 
His wide extended rule, which few had dared 
oppose. 

He sees again his glad and peaceful home. 

His warlike sons and cherished daughters dear ; 
Together o'er his hunting-grounds they roam. 

Together they their honored sire revere ; 

But trickles down his cheek the burning tear, 
As fades the spectral vision from his eye : 

Low at his shrine he bows with listening 
ear, 
And up to the Great Spirit sends a cry. 
To bear him to his rest, and bid his sorrows 
die. 



THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 91 

Tired of the lonely world he longs to go 
And join his kindred and the warrior band, 

Where fruits for him in rich luxuriance grow, 
Nor comes the pale-face to that spirit-land : 
Ere he departs for aye, he fain would stand 

Again upon his favorite rock and gaze 

O'er the wide realm where once he held com- 
mand, 

Where oft he hunted in his younger days. 

Where, in the joyful dance, he sang victorious 
lays. 

Up the bold height with trembling step he passed, 

And gained the fearful eminence he sought : 
As on surrounding scenes his eye was cast, 
His troubled spirit racked with frenzied 

thought. 
And urged by ruin on his empire brought. 
He uttered curses on the pale-faced throng, 
With whom in vain his scattered warriors 
fought ; 



92 THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 

And on the sighing breeze that swept along, 
He poured the fiery words that filled his venge- 
ful song : 

Fair home of the red man ! my lingering gaze 
On thy ruin now rests, like the sun's fading rays ; 
'Tis the last that I give — like the dim orb of day, 
My life shall go down, and my spirit away. 

Loved home of the red man ! I leave thee with 

pain, 
The place where my kindred, my brothers were 

slain ; 
The graves of my fathers, whose wigwams were 

here ; 
The land where I hunted the swift-bounding 

deer. 

No longer these hills and these valleys I roam, 
No more are these mountains and forests my 
home, 



THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 93 

No more, on the face of the beautiful tide, 
Shall the red man's canoe in tranquility glide. 

The pale-face hath conquered — we faded away. 
Like mist on the hills in the sun's burning ray, 
Like the leaves of the forest our warriors have 

perished ; 
Our homes have been sacked by the stranger we 

cherished. 

May the Great Spirit come in his terrible might, 
And pour on the white man his mildew and 

blight ; 
May his fruits be destroyed by the tempest and 

hail, 
And the fire-bolts of heaven his dwellings assail. 

May the beasts of the mountain his children de- 
vour. 

And the pestilence seize him with death-dealing 
power ; 



94 THE LAST OF HIS RACE. 

May his warriors all pf^rish, and he in his gloom, 
Like the hosts of the red man, be swept to the 
tomb. 

Scarce had the wild notes of the chieftain's song 
Died mournful on the evening breeze away. 

Ere down the precipice he plunged along 
'Mid ragged cliffs that in his passage lay : 
All torn and mangled by the fearful fray, 

Naught save the echo of his fall arose. 

The winds that still around that summit play, 

The sporting rill that far beneath it flows, 

Chant, where the Indian fell, their requiem o'er 
his woes. 



%a Hi) Wfe. 



c^- 



Come hither, dearest one of earth, come sit thee 

by my side, 
For thou art e'en more lovely now than when 

my bhishing bride ; 
Departing years have shown thy worth, and tested 

well thy love. 
And I have found in thee a friend next to my 

Friend above : 
Sweet kindred soul — my own fond wife ! 
A world of bliss 'mid earthly strife — 
I bless thee, kindest Heaven, for this, the choicest 

boon of life ! 



96 T O M Y W I F E . . 

The glow of thy affection pure, the beauty of 

thy mmd, 
Have round me thrown their golden links, my 

willing heart to bind ; 
They've shed upon my path their rays, so sweet, 

so calm, so bright. 
That they have changed a darkened world to 

one of hallowed light ; 
Of earth thou art my Eden fair. 
The sharer of my joy and care, 
The blest companion of my heart, in thought 

and wish and prayer. 

Beloved ! when I saw thee first, and met thee 

as a friend, 
And only in acquaintanceship our hearts began 

to blend, 
My youthful soul was kindled then, and unknown 

raptures felt ; 
Unconsciously I breathed thy name while in 

devotion knelt ; 



T O M Y W I F E . 97 

And every day, before my eye, 
Came, like a seraph from the sky, 
Thy lovely image, dearest one, and in my dreams 
'twas nigh. 

Oft arm in arm, with joyful steps, o'er flowery 

fields we trod ; 
Oft, listening to the Sabbath-bell, we sought the 

house of God : 
And many a blissful hour flew by, when sitting 

side by side ; 
But happiest was the moment when I took thee 

ds my bride ; 
O then, my beautiful, Avere given 
Our pledge to each, our vows to Heaven ; 
And naught hath yet, for three bright years, our 

deep afl'ection riven. 

In mutual hope and faithful trust, and in con- 
fiding love, 

Receiving from our Father's hand rich blessings 
from above. 



98 TOMYWIFE. 

Amid life's duties, toils and cares, along our 

pilgrim way, 
Together we have come with joy increasing till 
to-day ; 
Thou, like a guardian spirit fair, 
Hast sought my every ill to share ; 
For thee, O priceless boon of Heaven, shall rise 
incessant prayer. 

And on our path, and in our home, hath beamed 

a precious light. 
Replete with new and wondrous charms, in hope 

and promise bright ; 
An angel baby's face and form, and laughing life 

of glee, 
A golden link of love to bind my heart more 

close to thee ; 
Amusing, mirthful, elfin girl, 
A treasure sweet — immortal pearl ! 
O ever round our darling may celestial pinions 

furl. 



TOMYWIFE. 99 

Our little world of peaceful joy, with cloudless 
sky serene : 

By sordid hearts and vulgar eyes, is never known 
nor seen ; 

The sweetest bliss can ne'er be found in glitter- 
ing wealth alone^ 

Nor does it dwell in royal courts, nor on ambi- 
tion's throne ; 
In hearts of faith and love it springs, 
And blesses those to whom it clings. 

Sheltered and sweetly shadowed by its soft, 
-angelic wings. 

Thou loveliest one of all on earth, of my own 

self a part. 
The choicest of celestial gifts, and nearest to 

my heart — 
O never shall this arm forbear, my chosen to 

defend, 
And never shall this heart grow cold till life's 

last pulse shall end ! 



100 TO MY WIFE. 

Sweet star of life, serenely bright, 
Dispelling gloom with purest light — 
Can such affection know decay, or die in death's 
dim night ? 

The love that bindeth Christian hearts is not 

alone of earth. 
It is an effluence from God, and hath a heavenly 

birth ; 
Its spirit thrills our wedded souls like music tones 

divine ; 
Its holy fire of sympathy through all our path 

shall shine ; 
Then, in those radiant skies afar, 
Where naught can e'er its beauty mar, 
'Twill ever beam in glory with the Bright and 

Morning Star ! 



THE KAREN VILLAGE 



s* 



Clje limit tillage: 



MISS ELEANOR MACOMBER AT DONG-YAN". 

O'er the distant seas a village 

Nestles under glowing skies, 
'Mid the nations oriental, 

Where the realm of Burmah lies ; 
Where the Sal wen flows in beauty, 

'Mid the flowers of tropic vales ; 
Where the clouds of moral midnight 

Shaded long the hills and dales. 

Ages fled, and countless seasons 

Rolled successively away. 
Like the ancient stars of heaven. 

Seen by night and lost by day : 



104 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

Ever changeless — still abiding, 
As of past and olden time, 

Gloomily, unbroken darkness 
Rested on that heathen clime. 

Ruled Ah-wah that clustering village 

Chieftain of a dread control ; 
Deeper than the blackest darkness, 

Were the stains upon his soul. 
There, all fierce and foulest passions 

Reveled in unbridled sway ; 
Cruel rites and beastly orgies 

Oft began and closed the day. 

In the vale of shadows dwelling, 
Yoid of Heaven's immortal light ; 

Sad their course through mazy errors. 
Where no day succeeded night ; 

Where the Gospel never taught them, 
How from guilt and woe to flee ; 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 105 

How to break the awful bondage 
Of a dread idolatry. 

Vassals of a heartless priesthood, 

All obsequious to their nod : 
Soulless Boodhj by them and millions, 

Worshiped as the only God. 
Conscience smothered, Passion rampant, 

Right unheeded. Truth unknown, 
Lired they worse than brutes that perish, 

Till their mortal hour had flown. 

And the Future, faintly rising, 

Like the image of a dream. 
Or as specters, wild and haggard. 

To the guilty convict seem — 
Future — joyful to the Christian — 

Had for them no holy peace : 
All the glory of their heaven 

Was from being's self to cease. 



106 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

In that sin-beclouded village, 

Rose no Christian temple fair ; 
No blest Sabbath dawned in stillness ; 

Pealed no bell upon the air : 
Beautiful upon the mountains, 

Came no messenger of love, 
Publishing the gladsome tidings 

Of Salvation from above. 

There no happy throngs assembled, 

Free from earth-born care and strife. 
Joining in the prayer and anthem, 

Hungering for the Bread of Life. 
Never had the name Emmanuel, 

Shed its holy fragrance there, 
Placing in the rayless midnight, 

Hope's pure star above despair. 

All was darkness — all was sadness ! 
Who can paint the dismal gloom ? 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 107 

Age and youth, in quick succession, 
Rushing downward to the tomb ! 

Every footstep uttered — echoed, 
As the generations passed — 

Oh ! the awful destination 

Reached, and evermore to last ! 

Shall for aye the heathen nations 

Sink in misery's burning flood ? 
Shall the tidings reach them never 

Of the Savior's cleansing blood ? 
Oh ! shall they^ the gospel knowing, 

Fail to spread its blessed light — 
Fail to plant its glorious standard 

In the realms of pagan night ? 

No ! — upon the ocean surges. 

Bound to India's sultry clime. 
Go the messengers of Jesus, 

On this enterprize sublime : 



108 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

Clad ill bright and heavenly armor, 
Trusting in Jehovah's name ; 

Darkened realms for him to conquer, 
Is their pure and lofty aim. 

'Mid a thousand fearful perils, 

Pressed by trials hard and sore. 
There they kindle fires celestial, 

Streaming backward from the shore : 
Spreading through the lonely jungles. 

Filling all the vales with light, 
Gilding tops of distant mountains — 

O ! the grandeur of the sight ! 

One there was, a gentle spirit, 

'Mid that missionary band. 
Who for Christ's sake and the Gospel's, 

Home and friends and native land. 
All had left, and left for ever. 

And had gone far hence alone, 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 109 

Braving perils of the Ocean, 
Aiid the fear of ills unknown. 

See her in that heathen village, 

Weeping with a burdened soul ; 
Witnessing the woeful ruin, 

Wrought by sin's unchecked control : 
See her, as a lovely angel. 

Sheltered save by Heavenly Grace ; 
Not a kindred spirit with her, 

'Mid the demons of the place. 

Whence that more than mortal courage, 

Gentle Teacher, in thy breast ? 
Zeal that fired the ancient martyrs. 

All thy nature hath possessed : '" 
Love, that brought to earth the Savior, 

Pitying lost and guilty man ; 
Aye, his love constraining, brought thee, 

Blessing bright to dark Dong-Yan. 

10 



110 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

To the Chieftain's rustic palace, 

With a trusting heart she hies ; 
To that home of heathen vileness, 

Bears a message from the skies. 
Lists the wife, with deep emotion. 

While the page of truth is oped ; 
Light supernal, quick descending. 

Shows the gloom where long she groped. 

Wondrous was the melting story. 

Calvary's bloody Cross revealed ; 
Wondrously the voice of mercy 

Through her spirit's chambers pealed ! 
Gladly welcomed were the tidings 

Of a priceless pardon free ; 
Brightly gleamed the path to Heaven — 

To a blest eternity ! 

Hark ! the wicked Chieftain's footstep, 
Echoes through the gloomy hall ; 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. Ill 

Passion mads him, home returning 

From a drunken festival. 
Naught cares he for Heaven's glad message, 
. Nor for Heaven's sweet messenger ; 
Ready to despise the mercy, 
And to pour abuse on her. 

" Go," at length the convert uttered, 

'' Go, and all that story tell. 
How the Savior came and suffered — 

Died to rescue souls from hell. 
That shall reach his darkened spirit, 

That shall move his iron heart, 
Show his guilt and bring repentance, 

Bidding tears of sorrow start." 

Trembling, toward the Chieftain's presence — • 

Shrinking of a spirit chaste, 
Shuddering at Guilt's dread visage — 

Softly on, her footsteps haste. 



112 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

There, with faith that's more than mortal. 
Courage high, angeUc, grand. 

And a purpose pure as heaven, ^ 
See that gentle being stand ! 

Like the cadences of seraphs. 

Dropping from the jasper walls, 
Sweet the voice of Eleanor 

On Ah-wah's dark spirit falls. 
Up before his mental vision, 

Like the brilliance of the sun. 
Rose the glory of Redemption, 

And the Chieftain's heart was won ! 

• 
O, the triumph of the Gospel ! 

O, the victory of love ! 
O,, the mightiness of weapons, 

Prom the armory above ! 
Can the force of human valor, 

Can the warrior's steel and mail, 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 113 

Can all art of man's invention 
Siege the soul and thus prevail ? 

Truth is glorious — Truth will conquer ! 

'Tis the Spirit's piercing blade, 
Cleaving heart and soul asunder. 

While it heals the wound it made. 
Truth Divine and love celestial, 

Weapons in a female hand, 
Mighty through the Power that gave them, 

Trophies win on pagan land. 

Angels o'er that village hovered, 

And unseen, their pinions waved ; 
Up to Heaven they bore the tidings 

Of repentant sinners saved. 
Converts, like the drops of morning. 

Gathered to the place of prayer ; 
Wild Karens in Christian service 

Told how grace had triumphed there. 

10* 



114 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

Now the Sabbath shed its fragrance, 

And a sacred day was named ; 
Now true worshipers assembled 

Where the Gospel was proclaimed ,' 
Where the words of heavenly wisdom, 

To the aged and the young, 
Were unfolded in their beauty, 

Or in holy hymns were sung. 

Lo ! upon the beckoning mountains, 

In the jungle-vales between, 
Far along the winding rivers. 

All around that brightening scene. 
Fell the beams of sacred splendor, 

From the light enkindled there, 
And a song of strange rejoicing 

Swelled along the ambient air. 

Thus the spirit of the Gospel, 
Going down the course of time, 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 115 

Waves o'er every realm its banner, 

Making all its path sublime ! 
Thus the influence of the pious, 

Ev^ery holy act and choice. 
Lives and spreads, and coming ages 

Feel its power and hear its voice ! 

There's a wail within that village — 

Deepest sorrow steals apace. 
While the voice of lamentation 

Echoes sadly through the place : 
'Tis the solemn wail of mourning — 

Oh ! the Teacher is 7io more ! 
Her rejoicing, ransomed spirit 

Hath departed earth's dark shore ! 

To the wings of holy triumph. 
Her serene, glad soul was given. 

And along the path of angels. 
It was wafted up to Heaven ! 



116 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

From her chosen field of labor, 

Which for four brief years she blessed, 

Jesus called his faithful servant 
To her home of glorious rest ! 

'' Tell my kindred o'er the ocean" — 

In her low, expiring voice — 
" Not a sorrow now comes o'er me, 

But my spirit doth rejoice, 
That from dearest home and country. 

To this far and foreign zone. 
With a blessing for the wretclied, 

I have come and toiled alone." 

Gazing from the heights of glory. 
On the varying scenes below, 

How, with sweet and heavenly rapture, 
Doth her angel-spirit glow, 

As she marks the path of duty. 
In the earthly course she trod ; 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 117 

Sees her influence widening, brightening, 
Radiant with the smile of God ! 

Dead ? — her name and deeds are living, 

Treasured in a thousand hearts ; 
And her memory loved and cherished, 

Sacred pleasure still imparts. 
Others yet, as Time advances. 

Dwelling where the Teacher came. 
Shall arise and call her blessed. 

And delight to speak her fame. 

Let the Amazon, for glory, 

Struggle through the field of death ; 
Let the Belle of Wealth and Fashion 

Seek the world's admiring breath : 
As the meteor's startling splendor 

Fades for ever from the sky ; 
Like the fame of errant spirits, 

So they live or quickly die ! 



118 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

Not the flood of awful fury, 

Not the tempest in its might, 
Marked by wrath and desolation, 

Spreadeth gladness and delight : 
'Tis the stream that gently floweth 

Flowers the mead and dark defile ; 
'Tis the soft, sweet shower descending, 

Bids a thousand gardens smile. 

• 
Lives, whose eulogy is written, 

In a blessing on the heart, 
Wrought through love and self-denial, 

Ne'er from memory's home depart : 
Graved upon the soul's bright tablet, 

Wasting time can ne'er efface. 
Heaven shall keep the blazing record 

In its own immortal place! 

There, a galaxy of jewels, 
Fair in glory's diadem, 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 119 

Shines with fadeless beams celestial. 



Each an honored, priceless gem : 
Upward, like a star ascending, 

One by one in triumph rose ; 
High amid them, sweet Macomber, 

Like a seraph, sings and glows ! 

In this world of sin and sorrow. 

Ah ! what scenes of woe abound ! 
Wide-spread realm and clustering village, 

Wrapt in darkness, sad, profound ! 
Ignorance, like Night's deep shadows, 

Rests on countless, deathless minds ; 
War, caste, bondage — every evil, 

Millions in its fetters binds ! 

But a happier day is coming, 
Lo ! its tinted dawn appears ! 

Prophets see its glorious advent — 
Era of millenial years ! 



120 THE KAREN VILLAGE. 

Then shall earth, like primal Eden, 
Filled with joy and virtue, bloom ; 

Then the ills, now darkening o'er it, 
Shall have found a rayless tomb ! 

Here's a field for each glad spirit. 

Warm with impulse high and pure. 
Where all influence sweet and holy, 

Present, future, good procure : 
Gaze upon the boundless landscape ; 

From its shadows ne'er recoil ; 
Give, to make it bloom in beauty, 

Hearts of love and hands of toil ! 

Science ! bring thy contributions ; 

Music ! thy enchanting voice ; 
Poetry ! thy choicest garlands, 

To adorn and make rejoice : 
Blest Religion ! these shall aid thee. 

In the triumphs thou shalt gain ; 



THE KAREN VILLAGE. 121 

And may all thy lovely daughters 
Joy to speed thy glorious reign ! 

When the light of mortal being 

Darkens in Death's shadowy vale, 
When all beauteous earthly prospects 

From the fading vision fail, 
O, what peace shall fill the spirit, 

Conscious of a life for good ! 
O, how rich the Master's blessing — 

JShe hath done whate'er she could ! 



11 



%\^t Jeabenlg Jfritiiir. 



There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a Brother. 
Prov. xviii. 24. 



There is a Friend above, 
Whose pure affection far transcends all others' ; 
No earthl)^ kindred, parents, sisters, brothers, 

Like Jesus, love. 

His friendship is sincere, 
And firm, and changeless ; not like meteors 
gleaming ; 

But on his ransomed ones 'tis ever beaming, 

* 

Bright, calm and clear. 



THE HEAVENLY FRIEND. 123 

He is a faithful Friend ; 
In Him, the trembling soul in hope confiding, 
May safely trust — His love is e'er abiding, 

Even to the end. 

His sympathy — how sweet ! 
Like softest music o'er the spirit stealing, 
It soothes the troubled heart with heavenly 
healing, 

And joy complete. 

His words of glorious truth, 
Like cadences of love from heaven descending. 
Allure and guide to scenes of bliss unending. 

And fadeless youth. 

He with almighty power, 
Can give support when earthly hopes are dying ; 
And safe is every soul to Jesus flying. 

In trial's hour. 



124 THE HEAVENLY FRIEND. 

Celestial, peerless Friend ! 
Around me cast thy kind and sheltering pinions ; 
And take my spirit to thy blest dominions, 

When life shall end. 

O give that gracious Guest 
A throne in every heart, earth's sons and daugh- 
ters ! 
His friendship is a fount of living waters, 

And heavenly rest. 



tiiUixim) Sinitit. 



How glorious is thy dwelling, 

O Lord of hosts, on high. 
Where, angel anthems swelling, 

Fill all the boundless sky: 
In more than Eden splendor. 

The heavenly mansions shine, 
Where praise the ransomed render, 

In worship all divine. 

On earth, among the lowly, 
Thou hast a gracious reign — 

The kingdom of the holy, 
The church, the born-again ; 

And temples, reared by mortals. 
The homes of truth and love, 
11* 



126 DEDICATORY HYMN. 

Are hallowed as the portals 
Of Paradise above. 

Make this thy habitation, 

And here thy name record ; 
With blessing and salvation, 

Our prayers and toils reward ; 
Let dews of grace descending, 

On every heart distill ; 
And humble throngs come bending 

To know and do thy will. 

The Spirit's living beauty, 

To all thy servants give, 
And strength for every duty. 

That each to thee may live ; 
Till, in his chariot gleaming. 

The Savior comes to bear 
The souls of his redeeming. 

To heavenly mansions fair. 



^teniitg aiib tijt Soul. 

Eternity ! — tremendous word ! — when first 
Pealed out Jehovah's all-creating voice, 

Which bade the light o'er gloom and chaos burst. 
And orbs celestial in their course rejoice — 

Thy years were countless as the stars on high, 

And thou was then, as now, the same — Eternity ! 

When crashing spheres shall wail the death of 
Time, 

Melting away at God's consuming ire ; 
When He shall wrap the earth in flames sublime, 

And bid the starry lamps of heaven expire — 
Thou, in thy mystic track, shalt tireless run. 
Only the childhood of thy endless years begun ! 



128 ETERNITY AND THE SOUL. 

The Soul, undying as its glorious Sire, 
Must live like thee in its immortal state ; 

And joys that wake the purest seraph's lyre 
Will bid it welcome at thy golden gate ; 

Or, anguish keener than the world can show, 

Will sink it deeply down, amid thy darkest woe ! 

Eternal destinies the soul await — 

The grand decision trembles on an hour ; 

And if its vast concern be left too late, 
Oh, how shall it escape avenging power ? 

Scan, mortal, well, the path thy feet have trod ; 

Eternity proclaims, Prepare to meet thy God ! 



Matt. viii. 2 — 4. 

Among the crowd that Jesus taught, 
As wondrous words with wisdom fraught, 
Fell from his lips, a heavenly fount. 
In the glad Sermon from the Mount, 
A loathsome Leper there was found, 
Attentive to the Gospel sound. 

Enchained, enwrapt — deep through his soul, 
The rising tides of feeling roll, 
While the Discourse in grandeur grows. 
And thoughts so solemn mark its close ; 
Then, as the Teacher rose, withdrew. 
He and the wondering throng pursue. 



130 THE LEPER CLEANSED. 

" Though all unclean and cast aside, 

And every sacred boon denied, 

O, will not this Great Prophet give 

The favor wished and bid me live ? 

May I not fall before his face, 

Confess his power and trust his grace ?" 

What conflict raged within his heart ! 

To Christ would go — then feared to start : 

But more and more his need was felt. 

Till forth he rushed, and humbly knelt. 

And prayed to him of heavenly mien, 

'' Lord, if thou wilt,.canst make me clean." 



'' I will — ^bft clean !" the Savior said, 
And touched the lowly Leper's head : 
Q,uick through his hot and wasting frame 
A thrill of strangest rapture came ; 
Disease and pain — each vestige gone, 
He hailed a new creation's dawn ! 



THE LEP.ER CLEANSED. 131 

Jesus divine ! what wondrous power 
Attends thy word in mercy's hour ! 
O trembling sinner, Christ believe. 
And his recovering grace receive ; 
Then, cleansed of guilt, and all forgiven, 
Thou'lt live renewed — an heir of Heaven ! 



% christian f grk. 

It is high time to awake out of sleep ; for now is our salva- 
tion nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, 
the day is at hand : let us therefore cast off the works of dark- 
ness, and let us put on the armor of light. — Rom. xiii. 11, 12. 

Sons of light ! aAvake from sleeping ! 

Rouse again to active life ; 
Z ion's faithful friends are weeping, 

While ye falter in the strife. , 

Starting from your death-like slumbers, 

Gird once more your armor on ; 
Join the Savior's marshaled numbers, 

Marching where himself hath gone. 



Pilgrims ! wake ! on ground enchanted, 
Never-ceasing vigils keep ; 



A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 133 

'Tis by ghouls and syrens haunted, 

Linger not in periled sleep. 
Sentinels ! by Heaven appointed, 

Battle till the warfare close ; 
In the strength of God's Anointed, 

Triumph o'er your wily foes ! 

Down the stream of time descending, 

Priceless souls of glorious birth ! 
Here's the conflict and its ending — 

" Heaven is won or lost on earth !" 
Slumber not ! life's days are waning ; 

Soon will come its latest night ; 
Up ! improve the time remaining. 

Ere your souls shall wing their flight. 

Wrapt in slumber ? Heirs of glory, 
Saved from sin and endless woe. 

Bought with blood ! recall the story ; 
See from whence that blood did flow ! 

12 



134 A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 

On the brow of Calvary gazing, 

On the pit from whence you came, 

Wake ! redeeming love be praising ; 
Let your spirits catch the flame ! 

ShadoAvy night is^fast departing, 

Dawn of day is near at hand ; 
Christian ! up ! from slumber starting ; 

Heaves in view the spirit-land ! 
Dashes round thy bark the billow, 

Dangers threaten — seize the helm ! 
Sleeper ! wake ! and leave thy pillow ; 

Look ! behold the glorious realm ! 

Lo ! the world, with all its minions, 

Rolls along its gilded car ; 
Satan flaps his gloomy pinions 

O'er the darkened earth afar. 
Church of God ! oh, sleep no longer ; 

Rise in faith's unearthly might ; 



A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 135 

Thou than hosts of hell art stronger ; 
Wake ! and spread thy peerless light ! 

Even where thy rays are beaming, 

Foes of God are gathering there ; 
Waken from thy drowsy dreaming, 

Try the strength of earnest prayer. 
Souls are sinking to perdition 

'Neath the glorious gospel sound ; 
Urge for them the strong petition. 

Let the lost in Christ be found. 

See ! the Man of Sin approaching, 

Clad Avith dark and stolid might, 
On our dearest hopes encroaching, 

Spreads his desolating blight. 
Sons of light ! awake from sleeping, 

Give to all the Book divine ! 
Truth and Freedom now are weeping — 

Shall our altar-fires decline ? 



136 A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 

Bid the trumpet of Redemption 

Greet Columbia's farthest shore ; 
Here demand our Lord's preemption 

For the agonies he bore. 
On the prairie and the mountain, 

In the valley, rich and fair. 
By the river, lake, and fountain, 

Plant the Rose of Sharon there. 

Hark ! from o'er the distant waters 

Myriad voices sweep along. 
Heathen sons and heathen daughters 

Vainly round their idols throng ; 
Up to heaven their groans, ascending, 

Roll along the orient sky ; 
Wake ! thine ear attentive lending, 

List the Macedonian cry ! 

duickly send the bread of heaven. 
Ere they die in pagan gloom, 



A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 137 

Ere their priceless souls are given, 

Hopeless, to a dreadful doom. 
Must they downward rush for ever 

Plunging deep in misery's tide ? 
Shall the message reach them never — 

*' Ho ! for you the Savior died !" 

Jesus ! shall thy ransomed number 

Cease their faithful watch to keep ; 
O'er the dying nations slumber, 

Till in death they fall asleep ? 
Oh ! in view of hell's dark portal, 

And of heaven's all-glorious hope — 
Real things, unseen, immortal — 

Bid their heavy eyelids ope ! 

Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit! 

Fill our souls with heavenly light ; 
liCt us life from thee inherit. 

Life that knows no slumbering night, 

12* 



138 A CHRISTIAN LYRIC. 

111 thy pure and ample showers 
Bathe the chosen hosts of God ; 

Q,uicken, strengthen all their powers, 
Till the shadowy vale is trod. 

Then, how bright, from death awaking, 

Shine the victor-saints above, 
Gloriously from Jesus taking 

Crowns of endless life and love ! 
Farewell, fears and self-denials — 

Mortal night hath passed away ; 
Farewell, vigils, toils, and trials ; 

Welcome, everlasting day ! 



^t Porniiig Star. 

I will give him the Morning Star. — Rev. ii. 28. 

Wrapt in the gloom of nature's night, 
In folly's path I wandered far, 

Nor found a ray of cheering light, 

Till Christ I saw — the Morning Star. 

And when it beamed upon my soul. 
Brighter than gold or radiant spar, 

My spirit broke from sin's control. 
And blest the glorious Morning Star. 

As toward the world unseen, unknown, 
I've passed on time's resistless car, 

The darkest clouds have quickly flown 
Before the Bright and Morning Star. 



140 THE MORNING STAR- 

As fondest hopes shall fade away, 

Or aught life's fairest treasures mar, 
While here on earth I lingering stay, 
• O give to me the Mprning Star. 

When through death's cold and fearful stream, 

I pass from mortal scenes afar, 
O let upon my pathway beam 

The brightness of the Morning Star. 

Then, in the regions of the blest. 
Gathered where ransomed spirits are, 

My eye, undimmed, shall ever rest 
Upon the Heaven-loved Morning Star. 



& 



fittlf Jattie. 

Beautiful, the precious treasure, 

Lovely, darling, only child, 
Source of new and varying pleasure, 

Making joy where'er she smiled. 

Suddenly the floweret faded, 
All its beauty turned to gloom ; 

Life and hope and joy were shaded. 
By the darkness of the tomb. 

Budding flower ! thou hast not perished, 
Though on earth beheld no more ; 

Dearly loved and fondly cherished. 
Thou dost bloom on Eden's shore. 



142 • LITTLE HATTIE. 

Endless life to thee is given, 
And unfading beauty there, 

'Mid the seraph hosts of heaven, 
Far from sorrow, sin and care. 



Ye whose tear-drops flow like water, 
Let your grief and anguish end ; 

He who took your angel daughter. 
Is your Father and your Friend. 

Trust Him now, amid your sadness, 
I^et his promise be your stay ; *** 

He can change your gloom to gladness, 
He can turn your night to day. 

Mourn ye not, though hopes are blighted, 
Lift above the tear-dimmed eye ; 

By celestial radiance lighted. 

Faith reveals your home on high. 



LITTLE HATTIE. 143 

There your lovely Hattie dwelleth, 
There ye all may meet again, 

Joining in the song that swelleth, 
Joyful o'er the heavenly plain. 



®|e 'Jrast of ^x^tL 

Sweet is the House of Prayer, 

Dear, hallowed place ; 
Oft let me thence repair, 
For heavenly grace. 
There Jesus meets his own. 
There he makes his glory known, 
While saints surround the throne, 
And seek his face. 

IjOrd, in this House of Prayer, 
Thy Word be taught ; 

Here ransomed souls declare 

What grace hath wrought : 

Here precious numbers meet, 

Sittmg at the Savior's feet, 



THE HOUSE OF PRAYER. 145 

While living waters sweet 
To them are brought. 

Blest be this House of Prayer, 

Lord, to thee given ; 
Here hearts thy mercy share, 

By sorrow riven. 
O, bless thy people dear. 
And to all who gather here, 
May this glad place appear 

The Gate of Heaven. 

When in the House of Prayer, 

We meet no more ; 
When all our earthly care 

Is ever o'er ; 
O, may we meet above, 
In our Father's house of love, 
And Jesus' friendship prove, 

On Canaan's shore. 



|«kon f rabing S>t Ptieim,' 



AFTER THE BURIAL ON THAT ISLAND OF HIS WIFE, 
MRS. SARAH B. JUDSON. 



Farewell, thou rocky isle of deathless fame ! 

Lonely and sad, thy fading cliffs I see ; 
But not that he, of earth-immortal name, 

There died in exile, bids me tiu'n to thee : 
Oh, dearer far to me, that sacred trust, 

Which thou shalt hence in solemn stillness 
keep ; 
Till, in the resurrection of the just, 

She wakes to life from death's brief night of 
sleep. 

Thus waned Helena from his lingering sight. 
As o'er the waves the home-bound vessel sped ; 



JUDSON LEAVING ST. HELENA. 147 

While deep he felt, in all its cheerless blight, 
A heart bereft and sorrowing for the dead. 

Ah ! who can tell the grief of that dark hour, 
Save he whose spirit knew its keenest pang, 

When voices of the past, with throngful power. 
Through memory's halls in mournful cadence 
rang ! 

And there's a lovely group, with weeping eye&, 

Of children dear, bereaved and motherless, 
For cold in death that precious bosom lies, 

On which they oft had shared the sweet caress, 
To which did they in full affection cleave. 

While changeless love watched o'er their in- 
fant years ; 
'Twas meet — 'tis nature's impulse to relieve 

The sadness of the heart in gushing tears. 

That other scene now fills his heart once more, 
Of sorrow deep, which none could feel but he, 



• 



148 JUDSON LEAVING ST. HELENA. 

When called to lay, on Burmali's distant shore. 
His early trust beneath the Hopia-tree — 

Her, who to him with quenchless love had clung, 
And cheered his heart in peril's darkest day. 

Whose winning voice in angel accents rung^ 
To guide the lost in wisdom's peaceful way. 

The Hand that took the boon itself had given, 

Another dear, angelic form bestowed, 
A spirit chastened by the love of Heaven, 

A soul where naught but pure affection glowed. 
Again bereft — who shall the grief reveal, 

When thus were sundered life's endearing 
ties? 
What untold anguish may the heart conceal, 

When its own self in its companion dies ! 

Sweet ministers of Heaven were they on earth, 
Who shared in turn his toils and blest his 
heart, 



J U D S O N LEAVING ST. HELENA. 149 

Attesting well their precious, priceless worth, 
Till each, from him they loved, was called to 
part. 
Their rest is sweet — the grave on Burmah's shore 

Retains in quiet there its hallowed dust ; 
The rock-bound isle, where ocean billows roar. 
Shall guard the tomb that holds a sacred 
trust. 



On speeds the ship that bears the man of God, 
^ , While o'er his spirit flows the tide of grief ; 
And sorrowing, sinking 'neath affliction's rod. 

His heart, with anguish wrung, finds no relief ; 
Until, amid the thick, surrounding gloom. 

Come the sure promises of truth divine. 
And bear his soul aloft, while o'er the tomb 

Their clustering beams in glorious beauty shine. 

F^aith cleaves the sky, as in an upward flight. 
She wings her way to opening realms of bliss ; 



150 JUDSON LEAVING ST. HELENA. 

And views those spirits in that world of light, 
So fondly loved while they sojourned in this : 

She whispers — thou, ere long, shalt meet them 
there, 
No more to part while endless ages roll ] 

For Heaven's eternal life excludes all care. 
And Heaven's eternal love fills all the soul. 



Now, lost in light, the darkest scenes of time. 

Faith bids the toil-worn pilgrim's heart rejoice, 
Speaks of the raptures of that holier clime, 

And hope and heaven are in her cheering voice. 
Oh, when the grave at Amherst yields its trust, 

When lone Helena gives its precious dead, 
And glorious bodies rise from mouldering dust. 

What radiant gems will deck each sainted 
head ! 

Island of fame ! -when comes the last great day, 
That summons all before the judgment-seat ; 



JUDSON LEAVING ST. HELENA. 151 

When earth and heaven dissolved, shall pass 
away, 
And each must hear the Judge his doom 
repeat ; 
Which then, of those who here surrendering life, 
On thee were laid in death's deep slumber 
doAvn — 
The mighty Warrior and the Teacher's wife — 
Oh ! tell me which shall take the brighter 
crown ? 



Clje ^eparteir fear — |ts Bm^. 

'Tis Winter evening's bleak and lonely hour, 
The sun beyond the distant hills hath fled, 

Stern Darkness wields the scepter of his power, 
Nor is the crescent moon's dim radiance shed. 
Sweet stars are gazing from their ether bed. 

With silvery glances on the clouds beneath, 
As now the wasting Year, by old Time led, 

Comes, trembling, panting for another breath. 

To fold his weary Avings upon the couch of Death. 

As oft the dying man, ere life depart. 

Would fain to those who round his bed appear, 

Speak out the thoughts that struggle in his heart, 
While listening all they wait each word to hear : 



THE DEPARTED YEAR. 153 

So now '' the desolate and dying year," 
Ere he expires and joins the numbered throng, 

Wipes from his sunken eye the gathering tear, 
And pours upon the nightly breeze along, 
His broken harp's last tones — his faint and fare- 
well song : 

My days are all finished — I go, 'mid the gloom 
Of the cold Winter night, to the desolate tomb ! 
The Spring of my being hath vanished away ; 
My Summer, so lovely, so gorgeous and gay, 
Was brief in its life — it began soon to fade, 
And Autumn succeeded in sadness arrayed ; 
The flowers drooped away at his Avithering breath, 
And my Winter has come — 'tis the Winter of 
death ! 

Though brief my existence and narrow my ken, 
1 have witnessed the varied doings of men : 
The youth I have seen in their folly and pride, 
As they floated along on life's dangerous tide ; 



154 THE DEPARTED YEAR. 

I have heard, as they gathered, the shout and the 

song 
That flowed from the lips of the pleasure-rapt 

throng ; 
I knew the grand object of life was torgot, 
And I spake of the soul, but they heeded me not. 

I have witnessed the shafts the Destroyer hath 

hurled. 
In his conquering march through an awe-stricken 

world : 
The good and the great — they all bow to his nod, 
The dust goes to dust, and the spirit to God ! 
The gay pomp of life, the proud pageant of earth, 
The splendor of wealth, and the glory of birth — 
I've seen them all fade like the mist of the morn ; 
My pathway is strown with their relics forlorn. 

I have witnessed the crowds gomg down to the 

grave, 
The youthful, the fearful, the stout and the brave ; 



THE DEPARTED YEAR. 155 

Cut off ill the dew or the frost of their years, 
And borne to the tomb amid sighing and tears. 
I have foUoAved the throng to the bm'ial spot, 
Where the mortal must sleep and its name be 

forgot ; 
Their sad office o'er, I have seen them depart. 
But few was the number who laid it to heart. 

I have witnessed the student in Learning's glad 

halls, 
As he listened intent to Ambition's loud calls ; 
The fair fields of Science he widely explored. 
And the lore of the past in his memory stored : 
I pointed him then to the wisdom of God — 
To the path that the lowly Redeemer once trod ; 
But he turned him away to the wisdom of man, 
Nor cared the grand scheme of Salvation to scan. 

I have witnessed the worldling, as early and late, 
He has planned and has toiled to enlarge his 
estate ; 



156 THE DEPARTED YEAR. 

Nor fruitless his labor— his coffers ran o'er, 
And treasures uncounted he gathered in store : 
I told him that riches might suddenly fly, 
And bade him his treasures lay up in the sky ; 
But his thoughts and his heart and his portion 

were here, 
And the words of the message fell cold on his 

ear. 

I have witnessed the aged, whose days like my 

own, 
Were nearly all passed — to eternity flown ; 
And still they were thoughtless of life's closing 

scene — 
Of the blessing they need that shall make it 

serene. 
Of the region beyond the horizon of time. 
And its glories unspoken, eternal, sublime ! 
I furrowed their brow, and I silvered their hair. 
But they heeded me not, as I whispered — 

Prepare ! 



THE DEPARTED YEAR. 157 

I have witnessed the midnight and murderous 

deed, 
And scenes at which mercy in anguish might 

bleed ; 
The inebriate's course, and the slanderer's breath, 
And those who in darkness rush downward to 

death ! 
The fatherless child, and the widow bereft, 
1 have seen them in sorrow to penury left, 
While glittering wealth, with abundance of store. 
Might have lighted with joy their desolate door. 

I have witnessed the strife and the clangor of 

war. 
As the pale horse to battle hath hurried his car, 
While thousands are crushed by his terrible tread, 
'Mid the thunder of arms on the field of the 

dead ! 
And slaughters more fearful my vision have filled. 
In places where souls with their bodies are killed ; 

14 



158 THE DEPARTED YEAR. 

Where fire-fountains bubble from streamlets of 

hell- 
Pouring sorrow and woe as the red rivers swell ! 

I have witnessed the pagan bow down to his god, 
As he follows the path that his fathers have trod : 
On Life's stormy ocean his shattered bark rides. 
While in darkness and tempest he buffets its tides : 
No light beams along on his pathway afar — 
No pilot to point him to Bethlehem's Star ; 
Benighted, bewildered, enveloped in gloom, 
And laden with guilt, he descends to the tomb. 

I have witnessed the faithful wherever they meet, 
A heavenly Presence with pleasure to greet, 
To welcome its smile, to rejoice in its love, 
And receive benedictions that drop from above. 
I have known the desire of the liberal hand, 
Sending truth, pouring light, into every dark 
land ; 



THE DEPARTED YEAR. 159 



The poor widow's mite — it is seen by the Lord — 
His blessing will follow — she'll get her reward. 



I have witnessed the sinner bowed down with 

his guilt, • 

But he looked to that blood that for lost ones 

was spilt ; 
He heard a kind voice sweetly falling from 

heaven — 
O, weary one come, and thy sins are forgiven ! 
Then rolled off the burden, the sorrow was gone, 
Jesus smiled on the soul — it was hope's lovely 

dawn — 
A bright path appeared, which the Savior had 

blest ; 
There the ransomed one walked, finding gladness 

and rest. 

I have witnessed alas ! my poor song must 

now cease, 
And my being the Past's mighty volume increase ; 



160 THE DEPARTED YEAR. 

I must go — I depart — to return not again, 

Till the day that shall gather the nations of men 

Before the White Throne, to receive each his 

doom ; 
Then I shall come forth ffom the thunder-rent 

tomb, 
And my book, unimpaired, the Great Judge shall 

receive ; 
Oh, mortal ! what record of thee will it give ? 

Thus sang the Dying Year, whose faltering tones 

Were slowly hushed, as struck the midnight 
knell, 
Filling the ambient air with solemn moans. 

Which on my ear in mournful cadence fell ; 

But soon the New Year's song began to swell 
In mystic harmonies, yet strangely blending — 

And its prophetic numbers seemed to tell 
That some, with hopes to future good extending, 
Begin the joyful year, but ne'er shall see its 
ending. 



SONNETS 



11' 



SONNETS. 
I. 

Fair, in the mellow rays of lunar light, 

The lovely landscape meets the pensive eye, 
Reposing sweetly 'neath the solemn sky : 
All round, the shadowy curtains of the night 
Hartg, gently touching the horizon's verge. 

And gathering toward a narrow circle, where 
Flow out the silver moonbeams like a surge. 
Descend the sky and permeate the air : 
They rest in beauty on the mountain-height, 
They softly tread the forest-vales below. 
And dancing on the ocean's tide they go. 

The omnipresent watchers of the night ; 
And many a scene their gentle eyes survey. 
That ne'er are witnessed or revealed by day. 



164 SONNETS. 

II. 

Stars in the boniidless heaven, that fill the arch 
Above me, and beneath this earth of ours, 
Glitter resplendently, like deathless flowers. 
The primal world observed their earliest march, 
And each successive age hath kept its eye 

On the pure paths of space they long have trod. 
Winding their endless stairway through the sky, 
Obedient to the kind behests of God. 
They still, bright-eyed, are peeping through 
the Yeil, 
And gazing downward on the slumbering earth, 
As if they fain would tell their glorious birth, 

Unfold their wonders and repeat the tale 
Of their strange destinies to mortal men — 
Alas ! their mysteries are beyond our ken ! 



SONNETS. 165 

III. 

Do THEY, the spirits of a brighter land, 

Spirits, perchance, of those we loved most dear, 
Linger in silence o'er this sin-stained sphere, 

And gather round us like a guardian band ? 

Oh ! could we their ethereal forms behold. 
And listen to the wonders they might tell, 

What scenes of glory would their lips unfold, 
Of unpolluted worlds where angels dwell ! 
Perhaps to yon pure stars they've winged their 
flight, 

On some sweet mission of celestial love, 

And now, returned from those glad spheres above. 
Are ling ering round these dark abodes to-night, 

And long to tell us of those orbs on high. 

Those glorious realms, unscanned by mortal eye ! 



166 SONNETS, 

IV. 

Stay, ye celestial messengers of love, 

Abide around my dwelling-place below ; 

My thoughts are tending earthward oft, I know ; 
Still, I have longings for the bliss above, 
Would view the mansions of eternal rest. 

And soar Avith you to many a starry gem, 
Scan the far-spread dominions of the blest, 

And tread the streets of New Jerusalem ! 

Oh ! linger, then, ye ministers of light, 
And here communion with a mortal hold, 
Until the number of my days are told ; 

Then upward lead me to those worlds so 
bright. 
Where I may know of what I now but dream, 
And see the glories of the Great Supreme. 



SONNETS. 167 

V. 



Cr«t|. 



Thy course is onward still, immortal Truth f 
Though Error's train thy progress may oppose, 
Yet thou shalt triumph o'er thy mightiest foes, 

And show the strength of thy perennial youth. 

'Mid all the conflicts of thy rugged way, 

'Mid the envenomed shafts that sin hath 
hurled, 

Thy beams have brightened like the opening day, 
And cast their splendors on a darkened world. 

Sure thou shalt conquer 1 The Eternal One 

Shall cause thy glory to outshine the sun : 

Error shall quail before thee and retire, 
And glorious victories be ever thine : 

High Heaven with rapture shall thy hosts inspire, 
And bid Earth bow in homage at thy shrine ! 



1G8 SONNETS. ^ 

VI. 

WRITTEN AT IIEU GRAVE. 

And art thou here, fair, lovely, gentle one, 
Whose lyre, attuned with a seraphic skill, 
Sent forth its tones a thousand hearts to fill 

With melodies, so strangely sweet, which none 

But thy inspiring genius could create ? 

No, thou — thou art not here. A boon from 
heaven : 

And, as an angel visitant doth wait, 

To leave a blessing by our Father given, 

So thou, fair dweller of a brighter 'sphere. 

Too pure for earth, didst stay but briefly here — 
Only to sing a sweet, celestial song. 

That charms, enraptures with its peerless strains : 
Then upward soared to join the spirit throng, 

And tune thy harp anew, on heavenly plains. 



SONNETS. 169 

VII. 



''Mtm mqtr 



Slow, toward the lonely burial-spot where lay 
Their cherished brother in the rayless tomb, 
Moved the sad sisters wrapt in sorrow's gloom. 

While friends went weeping o'er the solemn way. 
One was amid that sympathizing throng, 
Whose heavenly visage as he passed along, 

Attracted all. The scene his spirit stirred, 
And touched the fountains of his soul — He 
wept ! 

And while he wept his deep-drawn sighs were 
heard. 
The dead he called — and Death no longer kept 

His victim. Mourning was exchanged for joy ! 
The Savior wept ! How wonderful his tears ! 

His friendship — oh, how free from all alloy ! 

His sympathy and love — they quell our rising 
fears ! 

15 



170 SONNETS. 

VIII. 

The winds of Autumn through the forests sweep, 

And o'er the harvest fields with mournful sigh ; 

They waft the somher clouds along the sky, 
And stir the billows of the azure deep : 
They come from distant lands of snow and storm, 

And mark their pathway with the touch of 
blight ; 
They pass — all viewless as a spirit's form, 

Fulfilling their appointed mission. Night 
Lists to the cadence of their solemn wail ; 
Day hears their footsteps in the lonely vale. 

And heavier tread upon the mountain side : 
Their voices bid the feathered songsters hie 
To fairer lands beneath a milder sky, 

Where Summer reigns and lovely flowers 
abide. 



SONNETS. 171 

IX. 

Ye winds ! the formless messengers of God ! 
Oft as I listen to your solemn lays, 
Ye wake the memory of departed days — - 
The home of infancy — the paths I trod. 
And friends I loved, ere childhood-scenes were 
o'er : 
I hear your tones in old familiar trees, 
I see the orchard nodding to the breeze, 
And hear the woodland of the mountain roar : 
Ye mind me well of long-passed evening times, 
When, with the household group around the 
hearth, 
I sat, and listened to your mournful chimes, 

While all within was joy and social mirth ; 
And now, as by my dwelling-place ye sweep. 
Ye tell me of the graves where friends and kin- 
dred sleep ! 



172 SONNETS 

X. 



Clje Stra, 



Bright lamps of the illimitable sky ! 

Hung by Jehovah's all-creating hand, 
Amid the chambers of His temple high, 
Where ye have gazed with never-sleeping eye, 

Upon this darkened orb, this far-off land. 
While ages dawned, matured and rolled away : 

Ye saw fair Eden — the destroying Flood — 
The rise of empires, and their sad decay — 

Heroic deeds, and fields of human blood : 
Ye have beheld the path old Time hath trod — 
Man's idol-worship — -his neglect of God : 

And, beaming as of old from heaven's high 
tower. 

To all the world, at evening's hallowed hour, 
Ye speak — though few do list — your Maker's 
love and power. 



SONNETS. 173 

XI. 

§tmL 

Immortal spark of pure, celestial fire ! 

Descending from thy glorious place of birth ; 

We trace with trembling thy career on earth. 
How dread the vengeance of thy woeful ire, 
When thou — forgetful of thy mission given. 

Allied with Vice, false Error's counsel sought — 
Against thy noble destiny hast striven, 

Till wrecked at last amid the ruin wrought ! 
How beautiful thy beams of heavenly light. 
When Truth and Virtue shape thy course aright, 

When, by Religion's holy precepts taught. 

Thy voice of eloquence and harp of might 

Unfold the glories of Eternal Love, 

And win the soul from earth, to find its rest 

above ! 

15* 



174 SONNETS. 

XII. 

Old Earth, since first creation's dawn began, 
With her ten thousand ever-varying voices — 
Alas ! who Hstens, ponders and rejoices ? — 

Hath ceaselessly proclaimed this truth to man : 

Mountains have echoed back the heavenly strain, 
Hills, valleys, and reverberating dells ; 

The nodding forest and the peaceful plain : 
Ocean's undying roar the anthem swells ; 

The stars, those tireless sentinels on high ; 

The clouds and storms and rainbows in the sky ; 
Eternal truth, grand record from above ; 

Christ on the cross, triumphant o'er the grave ; 

Redemption's plan a guilty world to save — 
From age to age repeat it — God is love ! 



SONNETS. 175 

XIII. 

MOTHER OF LUORETIA AND MARGARET. 

And here in peace they've laid thee down to rest, 
'Mid sighs and sadness and o'erfiowing tears : 
Thy pilgrimage through long-afflicted years, 

Is done, and thou dost slumber with the blest : 

But why should mortals thy departure mourn ? 
Why weep in sorrow at this hallowed tomb ? 

For thy sweet spirit hath been upward borne. 
Afar from all bereavement, woe and gloom : 

For ever free from pain and anguish now. 

Celestial beauty brightens on thy brow ! 

O, thou art gone to meet the loved so well — 

Th]/ angel daughters — in that heavenly land. 
To hear their lyres with holiest anthems swell, 

And join the glorious song, with all the harping 
band. 



176 SONNETS. 

XIV. 

It is a holy hour, and Nature speaks 

Its sacredness with many a winning voice, 
That bids the grateful, loving heart rejoice : 
How sweetly, on the distant mountain peaks, 
Lingers the radiance of the setting sun. 

Giving a glory to each beauteous thing, 
Touched by his beams. — So now, upon each one 
Of that glad throng, warmed by the Savior's love. 

And gathered in his blessed name to sing 
And supplicate, descending from above, 

Soft as the vivifying breath of Spring, 
Rests the sweet influence of the Spirit's power, 
Filling the heart with rapture at this hour. 
That Learning cannot claim, nor Science ever 
bring. 



SONNETS. \ n 

XY. 

e all k Jfaire m a f eal" 



Down from its stem the withered leaf to earth 
Drops, dangling in the cool, autumnal breeze, 
And dreary stand, like skeletons, the trees, 

Till Spring again shall give their foliage birth 

Emblem of man, that faded leaf — how true ! 
Child of the vernal season's glowing ray ; 

Bright in the Summer's life-distilling dew ; 
Touched by the frost, it withers in a day ! 

So shall we fade ! the prophet's solemn voice 
Is but the truth of what we daily know : 
Life's lovely seasons come and quickly go ; 

But, pilgrim, hope ! in Mercy's plan rejoice ! 

Then, fading like the leaf at last, from death 

Thou'lt rise to endless Spring, through Christ's 
reviving breath ! 



178 SONNETS. 

XVI. 

Dark demon from the land of fell Despair ! 

When, from the mourning realms of blood- 
stained earth, 

Shalt thou be banished to thy place of birth. 
And mortals in thy guilt refuse to share ? 

Thine is the path of carnage and of death — 

More terrible thy blast than Simoom's breath ! 
Widows and orphans o'er thy deeds have sighed, 

Thy trophies sad, in scalding tears bewailed : 
Kingdoms beneath thy wrathful storm have died, 

While Rapine, Wrong and Tyranny prevailed ! 
Oh, when shall thy dread thunder cease to roar. 

And orbs of peace and love in beauty shine 

On earth's great brotherhood with beams 
divine, 
And nations learn the arts of Death no more r 



SONNETS. 179 

XVII. 

CJe limn. 

WRITTEN IN 1850. 

O North ! think not of compromising Right 
And Freedom ! these uphold, sustain, defend : 
Battle for these — nor yield them in the end. 

And victory shall crown the bloodless fight ! 

Now is the time for action, firm and true ; 
Hold to the Right, nor vaunting menace fear ; 

The crisis dread shall pass, and ye shall view 
The Union safe — its future skies more clear ! 

For this, keep vigils now our mountains bold ; 

For this, broad lakes their waves in silence hold ; 
And the far-stretching prairies breathless wait : 

Periled humanity in every clime. 

And spirits bending from their seats sublime, 
Together pause, o'er Freedom's pending fate ! 



180 SONNETS. 

XVIII. 

ON HEARING, IN 1846, REV. BENJAMIN HARVEY, AGED 110 YEARS. 

Listening to thee, what thoughts my spirit 
throng ! 

Last of a generation long since dead, 

What years have frosted o'er thy reverend head ! 
What waves of time have dashed thy feet along ! 
Where are the multitudes that gathering heard 

The earliest sermons from thy youthful lips ? 
What mighty storms life's rolling seas have 
stirred ! 

What beaming suns have set in dark eclipse ! 

What orbs have risen to the lofty sky ! 
What nations born, and cradled, and matured ! 
What great events on history's page secured ! 

liO, a ncAV world now greets thy lingering eye ! 
And if thy days as few and evil seem, 
Sure life to us is but a fleetino: dream ! 



SONNETS. 181 

XIX. 

^t Wjite Mlmkim. 

What grand and bold sublimity abounds 
Among these lofty peaks and deep ravines, 
Where Nature, lavish of her wild, bewildering 
scenes, 

Man's feeble sense with mighty awe confounds ! 

Here earth draws near to heaven : and, throned 
in clouds, 
Mount Washington, like him whose name it 
wears. 

Stands in lone majesty among the crowds 
Below, and the great sky-temple bears ! 
Look from the gray top of that summit high, 

On the bright glories of the out-spread view, 

While vision, fading in the distant blue, 

And silver lake and stream and landscape nigh 

Impress the soul with overmastering power, 

And thou shalt ne'er forget that pregnant hour ! 
If) 



182 SONNETS. 

XX. 



Clje ®fo fear. 



Farewell, departing, fading, dying Year ! 
Go swell the mighty volume of the Past : 
Thy deeds are done, and thou hast breathed 
thy last ; 

And yet shall they, with thee, again appear : 
Each act of kindness, and each work of love — 
The humble prayer that went to heaven above, 

With duties well performed to God and man, 
Although to mortal eyes unseen, unknown ; 
And sinful acts along thy pathway strown — 

How oft they rise as we thy circuit scan ! 

Yet they — the broken vow, the right deferred, 
Each unrepented wrong, and idle word, 

Though 'neath thy gloomy veil concealed they 
lie, 

Shall in the Judgment rise before the Eternal 
Eve! 



SONNETS. 183 

XXL 

^\t Sefo fear. 

Hail, Happy Year ! Praise to our Father, God ! 
That thy rejoicing morn salutes our eyes : 
How many hoped to see thy morn arise, 

Who now are sleeping 'neath the silent sod ! 
And ere thine exit comes, what voice can tell 
For whom shall sound the death-declaring 
knell ? 

And who would Avish thy mysteries to scan ? 
Or now thy unrevealed events behold ? 
Enough doth every passing day unfold — 

Enough for the infirmities of man : 

Whate'er the future be, of wish, or fear, 
Would all enjoy a new and happy year ? 

To God, be every day and moment given ; 

Living or dying, then, we live or die for Heaven ! 



184 SONNETS. 

XXII. 

B 

My Mother ! earliest friend I learned to love. 

Sweet guardian of my young and helpless 
years, 

Fount of my joy and solace of my fears : 
An angel from the blessed world above, 
She ever seemed before my eyes to move, 

And bright that infant vision still appears, 
As now I see her and its substance prove. 

In all her love for me, and cares and tears. 

O gracious Heaven ! to thee I lift my voice, 
In glowing thankfulness, for such a guide, 
Who sweetly taught me, kneeling at her side. 

In thy benignant bounty to rejoice : 
Oh, be no precious boon to her denied, 
While yet I bless thee that her days abide. 



Jontflna Mir J^Iora. 



SUNG AT THE FESTIVAL OF THE NEW HAVEN HORTICULTURAL AND 
POMOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, SEPT. 30, 1853. 



Fruits and Flowers, in beauty blending, 

Bright arrayed by fingers fair, 
Fling their fragrance, sweet ascending, 

On the Autumn evening air. 
Lovely vision — scene elysian — 

Golden harvest rare ! 
Goddess, from whose fields o'erflowing, 

Tempting treasures freely fall, 
Priestess of the Garden, glowing 

With thy leafy coronal, 

Greetings glad we give, Pomona, Flora, 

Gathered at your Festival. 
16* 



186 POMONA AND FLORA. 

Art and Nature celebrating — 

Human skill and gifts divine ; 
God the field and flower creating, 

Man to make their glories shine : 
Thus 'tis given, earth and heaven 

Sweet to intertwine. 
'Tvvas in Nature's earliest garden, 

That the sacred tie began. 
When the great and gracious Warden 

Gave the purest gift to man — 
Loveliest form and bloom, Pomona, Flora, 

Angel vision there could scan. 

Age and Wisdom, Youth and Beauty, 
Honored heads and skillful hands. 

From the varied walks of duty, 
Bound by sacred, social bands, 

Free from sadness, meet with gladness, 
At our Hosts' commands — 

Pleased to every heart's desiring. 

With the wealth that here is stored : 



POMONA AND FLORA. 187 



All these luscious gems admiring, 
^ Bending branch and vine afford ; 
And our welcome sing, Pomona, Flora 
To the dainties of the board. 



Oft amid such charming treasures, 

Gathered in a joyous throng. 
Be renewed this evening's pleasures — 

Sung again the festal song ; 
Gladness lightening, Beauty brightening 

All the years along ; 
Till, our wintery season closing, 

Heavenly Spring for us shall rise 
On the Edens, sweet reposing 

'Neath its ever-beaming skies. 
Bearing trees of life, Pomona — Flora, 

Fadeless blooms of Paradise. 



Bkkm Ca-kg. 



Sixteen to-day, sweet Friend ! 

Delightful thoughts are thine ; 
The Past and Present blend — 
Hopes of the Future shine : 
Happy the hours 
Of this blest day, 
Gliding away, 
'Mid vernal flowers. 

The Past with love is bright, 

Sweet infancy is there, 
And all the sunny light 

Of childhood, gay and fair : 
How memory dear, 
With pleasure, clings 



SIXTEEN TO-DAY. 189 

To by-gone things, 
And calls them here ! 

Safe garnered in the Past, 

Are hallowed youthful scenes, 
That sure Avill always last, 
Whatever intervenes : 

Heart-treasures they. 
Linked to the skies 
By heavenly ties. 
Ne'er to decay. 

Sixteen to-day ! the time 

When girlhood's bird-like songs, 
With maiden music chime. 
And life itself belongs. 

From this birth-morn, 
To eras new 
That rise to view, 
And hope adorn. 



190 SIXTEEN TO-DAY. 

The fount becomes a stream, 

The fruits succeed the flowers, 
Life's fancy-gilded dream 
Turns into sober hours : 
' The world of fact. 
Full of its needs 
For earnest deeds, 
Calls now to act. 

Be all the Future blest, 

And filled with welcomes bright 
When comes the day of rest, 
Its evening hour be light ! 
Glad the survey, 
As o'er long years. 
This date appears, 
Sixteen to-day ! 



Mn i#r. 



I WAS a boy : but half a score of years, 
Fringed with the Hght of childhood's day, 
Had passed in blithsome joy away, 

Nor left sad memories of grief or tears. 

A rural and sequestered spot was where 
Our pleasant, ample farm-house stood, 
'Mid field and mead and mountain wood, 

A landscape loved, if not as Eden fair. 

Spring brought its birds and flowers, and Sum- 
mer cast 
Luxuriant wealth o'er lawn and tree, 
While Autumn gave large bounties free, 

And Pleasure lurked in Winter's snow and blast. 



192 MY FATHER. 

Oft to the village school, my little feet 
Went up the hill and o'er the brook ; 
Heart-glad the teacher's kindly look 

I saw, and dear associates loved to meet. 

My Father, at the soft sweet eventide. 
Would often take me on his knee, 
And there in lessons question me, 

And mark my progress with a glowing pride. 

Clinging with gladness to his sturdy hand, 
Out to the fields with him I went, 
And joyous took some little stent 

Of reaping, making hay, or tilling land. 

O, 'twas a pleasure forth Avith him to go. 
On journeys to some town prolonged. 
See sights that on my vision thronged, 

And wondrous wise in new-found knowledge 
grow. 



MY FATHER. 193 

When home of friend or relative was reached, 
He bade me to the group repeat 
Some speech, with voice and gestm-e neat, 

Or tell the text of the last sermon preached. 

How well he loved his little bashful boy ; 
How glad his opening mind to see : 
Did thoughts of coming years with me. 

Fill his large heart with hidden, hopeful joy ? 

But he must leave me and from earth depart, 
Called to the glorious world above ; 
And 1 no more could share the love 

And tenderness of his dear, sheltering heart. 

I saw him prostrate on the couch of pain. 

Beneath the fever's burning rage ; 

I longed his sickness to assuage, 
And see him in his manly strength again. 



17 



194 M Y F A T H E R . 

'^ Your Father's dead !" Oh, how the message 
chilled 

My heart and dimmed my tearful eye ! 

With a cold gloom, and oft-heaved sigh, 
My little being was to fullness filled ! 

I saw him as he lay in death's stern arms ; 
His eyes were sealed in dark eclipse, 
But on his pale and speechless lips 

A loving smile was wreathed in heavenly charms. 

Was it the sweet peace of his dying prayer. 
That lingered with the parting breath ? 
Or visions, o'er the vale of death. 

That rose upon his ransomed spirit there ? 

Oh ! I remember well the funeral train. 
As solemnly it moved and slow, 
Through the deep banks of drifted snow ; 

And the dear dust returned to dust again. 



MY FATHER. 195 

I was a boy, when this great grief was borne, 
And years but half a score had known : 
I am a man — long years have flown — 

But ne'er have ceased that crushing loss to mourn. 

When o'er the young and tender heart there falls 
Some awful shade, with sudden power. 
How long the memory of that hour 

Remains, and all its mingled gloom recalls ! 



^11 %lmt, uig iabir log. 

All alone, my baby boy, 

Little, living fount of joy, 

Standing on thy tiny feet, 

Trembling, tottering, smiling sweet ; 
Canst thou walk, unled, unaided, 
On the parlor floor paraded? 

Looking comical and queer, 

Arms extended as in fear, 

Infant pilgrim, now begin, 

Try thy skill and thou shalt win : 
There ! one little step is taken, 
By it all thy form is shaken. 



ALL ALONE, MY BABY BOY,. 197 

One more, swinging to and fro, 

Lost your balance— ^own you go ; 

Up again, by stool or chair. 

Take another venture fair ; 
Walking is a mighty matter — 
Make your little feet to clatter. 

Come, my darling, come to me, 
Laughing, crowing in your glee ; 
See, your father's beckoning arms 
Wait to shield from hurts or harms : 
Ha ! you've started, tripping, running, 
Hands outstretched, and steps so cunning. 

O my precious baby boy, 
Father's pride and mother's joy. 
Many charms in thee are found. 
Many hopes in thee are bound. 
Kindest hands to thee are proffered. 
Earnest prayers for thee are offered. 

17* 



198 ALL ALONE, MY BABY BOY. 

All alone, my blessed child, 
Now so winning,' sweet and mild, 
Though with crowds, along the way 
Of life's opening, closing day. 
Thou must walk, thyself immortal, 
Toward the Future's solemn portal. 

Take no evil path, my boy, 
Make not bitter all our joy ; 
Oh, may every step of thine 
Guided be by love divine ; 
Walk, alone, the path of duty — 
Path of safety and of beauty. 

Then thy faithful feet at last, 
When this earthly scene is past, 
Shall, within the heavenly gate. 
Walk, with highest joy elate, 
On the banks of Life's pure river, 
Bright with glories fading never ! 



Sliinitijalja : 



A NAME, MEANING " LAUGHIXG WATER, GIVEN BY THE INDIANS TO 

A BEAUTIFUL CASCADE NEAR ST. ANTHONY's FALLS, 

MINNESOTA. 

When o'er the prairie first 

The Indian trod, 
And on his vision burst 

This work of God, 
No wonder he should claim it 

A lovely sight, 

A laughing sprite, 
And shouting forth, should name it 

With rapt delight, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



200 MINNEHAHA. 

Long ages passed, I ween, 
And none came near, 

To view this charming scene, 
[ts music hear : 

Before the forest-ranger 

Heard its sweet clang, 
It rushed and rang ; 

To human, eyes a stranger, 
It smiled and sang, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 

To summer-blooming flowers 
That fringe the brook, 

To clustering leafy bowers 
That on it look. 

To the deep vale, extending 
Far on below, 
Where echoes go, 

'Twas ever sweetly sending 
Its tuneful flow, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



MINNEHAHA. 201 

When winter's mantling snow 

Lay by its side, 
When bright flowers ceased to gVow 

Along its tide ; 
Amid the frost-harps, builded 

By the ice-king, 

Each silver string 
With golden sunlight gilded, 

It still did sing, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 

Stars in the silent night, 

Might be enchained, 
Birds in their passing flight 

Be long detained. 
And, by this scene entrancing, 

Angels might roam, 

Or make their home. 
Hearing, in waters dancing, 

'Mid spray and foam, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



202 MINNEHAHA. 

Me thinks there is a strain, 

A saddened sound, 
A half-concealed refrain, 

A requiem found, 
And tear-drops, softly falling 

Along the steep, 

In the wild leap 
Of sparkling waters, calling 

For them that sleep, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 

Thousands who erst have viewed 

This glad cascade, 
Wild sons of solitude. 

Who hither strayed, 
Have passed away forever ! 

Come they no more, 

Nor hear the roar 
Of this bright, laughing river. 

Singing of yore, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



MINNEHAHA. 203 

But hardy pioneers, 

A pale-faced throng, 
Surmountmg toils and fears — 

Stalwart and strong ; 
Their Eastern homes forsaking 

For this great West, 

Their chosen rest, 
Blooms in the desert making — 

Are welcomed, blest: 
Minne-ha-ha ! 

Shout, to the sons of peace, 

A glad " what cheer," 
Whose pilgrim-bands increase 

With every year ; 
Whose art and taste are giving 

To lake and land. 

To prairie grand, 
A glory bright and living, 

That long shall stand — 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



204 MINNEHAHA. 

• 



Sing to the rising State, 

With cities fair, 
Whose power and honor great 

Her sons shall share : 
Bidding all foes defiance, 

Their happy choice 

Shall them rejoice. 
While Freedom, Truth, and Science 

Blend with thy voice, 
Minne-ha-ha ! 

Sing on — a hundred years, 

And then how bright 
This glorious realm appears 

To human sight ! 
All good things here shall enter ; 

Blessings shall teem, 

Religion beam ; 
Our country's crown and center 

This shall seem !- — 
Minne-ha-ha ! 



ANGEL ALLIES 



18 



f ugel Allies. 



The brightening beams of early day- 
Are melting Night's last gloom awray ; 
The stars, retreating one by one, 
Pale in the glory of the sun ; 
The mystic meteors of the sky 
Cease to attract the watcher's eye ; 
The specter-shadows in the vales 
Trip off along their morning trails ; 
The dreamy stillness of the hour 
Is broke by life's awaking power ; 
In leafy bough or #n the wing, 
The merry birds in chorus sing ; 



208 ANGEL ALLIES. 

i- 

Adown the hillslopes, slanting glide 
The Avaves of light, a flowing tide ; 
A thousand dew-drops, turned to gems, 
Give floral heads their diadems ; 
A thousand streamlets douhly show 
The things that on their margins grow ; 
Prom little lakes in valleys deep, 
Wrapt in their soft and tranquil sleep, 
Now gathered up in fairy folds, 
A snowy mist so sweetly rolls ; 
And light is dancing, Galilee, 
Upon thy pure and hallowed sea : 
From splendid villa, wealth's glad home, 
From humble tent of those that roam, 
Erect the round gray columns rise 
Of granite smoke to prop the skies : 
Gilboa's top's no longer dim, 
Nor Ebal dark, nor Gerezim : 
Bright morning glories o'er thee shine, 
O lovely land of Palesrtne ! 



ANGEL ALLIES. 209 

II. 

Gold-tipped are Dothan's hills of blue, 
Spread out in grandeur to the view. 

By love paternal kindly sent, 
Thither the youthful Joseph went, 
To greet his brethren in the field — 
But ah ! what fruit doth envy yield ! 
Not kindred blood nor holy tie 
Prevents the deed nor spares the lie. 
A brother sold — to Egypt borne ; 
Jacob deceived, his death to mourn. 
O Providence ! of deep design, 
How bright thy wondrous counsels shine ! 
Where man perverse his wrath expends, 
Thy wisdom bringeth glorious ends ; 
And Angel Allies, though unseen, 
'To aid thy servants intervene. 

But Dothan's hills where morning's ray. 
In blushing beauty finds its way, 

18* 



210 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Presents a strange, surprising sight, 
All compassed round with Syrian might. 
They came in hours when darkness shades 
The open plains and forest glades. 
On tented hosts the star-beams play, 
On hostile chariots in array ; 
And round the city, far and near, 
The foeman's lengthened lines appear. 

Elisha, Prophet of the living God — 
To capture him, they hither trod. 
His servant saw, in day's first light, 
That Syrian throng with sore affright ; 
And, hasting to the Prophet's side, 
'' Alas ! alas !" in fear he cried ; 
" What shall we do ? oh master ! how 
Shall we escape the Syrians now !" 
Calm was the Prophet's brow and mien ;,. 
His trusting soul was all serene, 
Firm as the mountain's solid base, 
Where found their feet a resting-place. 



ANGELA!. LIES. 211 

'^ Fear not," said he, '' our friends are more 

Than they whose presence you deplore." 

And while the youth was trembling there, 

Elisha bowed in solemn prayer, 

And lifted up his heavenly eye, 

As if he saw Jehovah nigh : 

" The vision bright, O Lord, unfold ; 

Let him its grandeur now behold ; 

Let him with opened eye survey 

How near to us comes Heaven to-day !" . 

Then on Elisha' s servant fell 

A ray divine, a sacred spell, 

That touched with holy fire his soul, 

And held him in a blest control. 

The mortal vail before his face 

Was drawn aside, and in its place 

There came a medium, crystal clear, 

In which celestial things appear. 

What splendors rush upon his sight ! 

What heavenly forms and visions bright ! 



212 ANGEL ALLIES. 

A glory, crowning Dothan's hills, 

His raptured spirit strangely thrills ! 

As up the mountain's spreading side, 

His wondering eye doth swiftly glide. 

On every hand afar he sees, 

Amid the rocks and through the trees, 

A white-robed host in armor bright — 

Chariots of fire and steeds of light ! 

Ten thousand thousand there they stood. 

The Angel Allies of the good. 

Before that host the Syrian band 

Seemed like a single grain of sand ; 

An insect atom, that a breath 

Might sweep away or doom to death ! 

O then the youthful servant knew 
The Prophet's words, inspired and true : 
He saw what multitudes were they, 
Whom God could send without delay ; 
Who e'en around his people lie, 
Though all unseen by earthly eye ; 



ANGEL ALLIES. 213 

Those spirit guai'dians, pure and strong. 
The friends of Right, the foes of Wrong. 

This glorious legion from the skies. 

Did not on Syrian vision rise ; 

So moved they onward, proud and vain, 

The hated Prophet to obtain ; 

A powerless victim him they'll bind. 

Nor dreamed resistance there to find. 

The man of God — the man of prayer — 
Many and great his allies are : 
What mighty aid at his command ! 
What angel guards around him stand ! 

Again Elisha's voice is heard — 
High Heaven awaits each suppliant word ; 
Unwavering faith the answer sought. 
And quick to earth the boon was brought. 
The Syrians stop — a midnight cloud 
Doth all the host in gloom enshroud : 



214 ANGEL ALLIES. 

The risen sun, the light of day, 

Hath in an instant fled away ; 

Darkness, untold by mortal lips, 

Holds every eye in dread eclipse ! 

Smitten of God, confounded, blind, 

Prophet they seek in vain to find : 

They know not where to go or grope. 

Blasted in every cherished hope : 

Those powerful hosts have lost their power. 

Defeat and doom above them lower ! 

Where'er he will, in paths along, 
Elisha leads the captured throng, 
Restrains the pending, vengeful blow, 
In mercy spares the conquered foe, 
Restores by prayer the seeing sense. 
In kindness feasts and sends them hence. 
No more they came, that Syrian band, 
To desecrate fair Israel's land. 
A great deliverance, timely given — 
The mountain camp of hosts of heaven, 



ANGEL ALLIES. 215 

Disclosed to mortal vision fair, 
The answering aid of holy prayer. 
O wondrous thought ! and is it thus, 
That spirit envoys visit us ? 

III. 

Kind Heaven its angels of glorious birth, 
Sends down to the good of this sin-smitten earth ; 
They linger about us, they go in our path, 
Protect us from evil and shield us from wrath. 

In visible forms at the first they were sent, 
Whom Abraham saw at the door of his tent, 
Whom IjOt entertained in the city of doom, 
And they led him away from a fiery tomb. 

The Prophets beheld them in peril's dark hour. 
And escaped from their foes by the aid of their 

power : 
To Elisha they came in a legion of light, 
And Sennacherib's army destroyed in a night. 



216 A N G E L A L L I E S . 

As the blessed Redeemer once dwelt among men, 
How Heaven's sweet angels attended him then — 
In his heart-crushing sorrow, baptized in its wave, 
As he hnng on the cross, as he lay in the grave ! 

To Peter's lone dungeon an angel did go. 
And took him away from the grasp of his foe ; 
One standing with Paul, by Euroclydon tossed, 
^Assured him, though wrecked, not a life should 
be lost. 

No longer to sight do those blest ones appear. 
But still they come earthward and tenderly near; 
Their soft wings are o'er us, as banners of love, 
And witnessing clouds floating down from above. 

O, who are those spirits, those allies from Heaven, 
Companions unseen to us mortal ones given ? 
Whence came they at first, and O where is their 

birth ? 
And why feel such aff"ection for children of earth ? 



A.NGEL ALLIES. 217 



IV. 



Hark ! a strain of music floats 

Softly through the evening air ; 
Sweet and pensive are its notesr, 

Like the cadences of prayer — 
Like the songs the Lord inspires, 

Which he giveth in the night, 
Stealing out from spirit-lyres, 

Changing darkness into light. 



Lo ! a mourning harp I hear ; 
Angel-fingers touch its chords. 

And a chastened heart sincere 
Utters forth its trusting words : 

Hopeful is the music's tone, 

'Mid the tears of sorrowing grief, 

Shed o'er dear ones loved and gone- 
Dear ones nigh to give relief. 



218 ANGEL ALLIES. 

MINISTERING SPIRITS. 

'Tis sweet to think that spirits pure and holy 
Are often hovering round the pilgrim here^ 

To baiiisli thoughts of grief and melancholy, 
And bid the trembling heart forget to fear. 

Bright angel forms, on soft and airy pinions, 
Like carrier birds, the messengers of love, 

Leave the fair precincts of the blest dominions, 
With choicest favors from the world above. 

They come, and give to solitude its pleasures. 
And throw a hallowed charm around the heart ; 

Bear up the thoughts to pure, immortal treasures, 
Where kindred spirits meet no more to part. 

They come, from those celestial hills descending, 
Sent by the bounteous Ruler of the skies ; 

We feel their presence with our spirits blending, 
When evening orisons to heaven arise. 



ANGEL ALLIES. 219 

They come, when o'er the sorrowing heart is 
stealing 

The wasting blight of earth's consuming woe ; 
They come, a ray of heavenly light revealing, 

Amid the darkness of our path below. 

They come to dry the mourner's fount of sadness, 
To pour their blessing on the drooping head, 

And bid the soul awake to hope and gladness, 
Along the vistas of the future spread. 

The stricken mother, as her darling slumbers, 
Cold, in the silent chamber of the tomb, 

Oft hears its pleasing voice, like seraph's num- 
bers. 
Fall on her ear amid surrounding gloom. 

The lonely orphan, by the world forsaken, 
Oft seems the kindness of the dead to share, 

And feels a thrill of new-born joy awaken, 
As if embraced by fond, parental care. 



220 ANGEL ALLIES. 

The saddened lover and the joyless maiden, 
Stript of their cherished ones by death's chill 
hand 

Commune with their returning spirits, laden 
With love undying from the glorious land. 

Joy for the mission of those guileless creatures — 
That Heaven to us such guardians should 
send ; 

Oh, wear they not the well-remembered features 
Of many an early loved and long lost friend ? 

Ye sainted forms of dearest ones departed ! 

Methinks I hear your music in the breeze ; 
And oft, 'mid scenes of sadness, lonely-hearted, 

My spirit's eye your joyful presence sees. 

Still, still around my chequered pathway hover — 
'Tis sweet to hold communion with the pure — 

And welcome me at last, when life is over. 
Where love and joy eternal shall endure ! 



ANGEL ALLIES. 22 1 

V. 

Do you believe in Ghosts ? I've heard 
That ghosts were seen, but not a word 
Did they presume to speak or write, 
And always came at dead of night, 
To some old, haunted house or room, 
Where a dark, murderous deed of doom 
Had been committed — ne'er confessed, 
And so the wronged soul could not rest, 
But back did come, with knife in hand. 
Or in some ghastly plight did stand, 
To hunt the guilty one, and show 
That in his cup were dregs of woe ! 

Sometimes in lonely graveyards drear, 
'Twas thought, believed, ghosts did appear ; 
And hence the story of the wight, 
Who passed the burial-ground at night, 
And lest bad ghouls on him should sup, 
Whistled to keep his courage up. 
19* 



222 ANGEL ALLIES. 

But ill this fast, progressive age, 
These kinds of ghosts have left the stage ; 
And, lo ! another sort is here. 
An active race and very queer : 
They're not your quiet, silent chaps. 
But show their presence by their raps ! 
Not like a careful, noiseless rover, 
They tip your chairs and tables over — 
Throw things about with fearful crash. 
And break your windows, glass and sash. 
Know-Nothings they are surely not, 
For wondrous knowledge they have got. 
They think, reflect, and write, and spell, 
And curious tales 'tis said they tell : 
But when they write a famous letter, 
Their grammar sure should oft be better ; 
Nor should their spelling so much vary 
From that of Webster's Dictionary : 
The news they bring us from the skies, 
Should freer be of downright lies ; 



ANGEL ALLIES. 223 

Or else an honest world will claim 
These ghosts, ncAV-fangled, are a shame ; 
Or, giving them a harder jam, 
By leaving oiY the e — a sham ! 

'Tis passing strange, if it be true, 
When master spirits go from time, 

And enter on a being new. 

In higher realms of soul sublime, 

If they are changed from wise men here, 

And there but simpletons appear ! 

And if they should communicate 
With mortals in this world below. 

Would they to us their knowledge state 
In the same way these rappers do ? 

Would they such doubtful mediums choose, . 

Through whom their intellects to ooze ? 

Think of the Newtons, Bacons, Lockes, 
The great, from mortal vision hid. 



224 



ANGEL ALLIES. 



Going to Rochester for Fox, 

And others, oi^i7ie genus id ; 
And them appropriate channels own 
To make their revelations known ! 

Ho ! Humbug ! Barnum is a saint, 
Compared with foolery like this ; 

His queer-formed mermaid in her paint, 
The perfect charm of loveliness : 

Credulity, in Rapperdom, 

Hath surely reached its kingdom come ! 

VI. 

Angel Allies, viewless friends, 
Aid impart when ill portends ; 
Shield, when danger oft impends. 

Yigils o'er the slumberer keep, 
Wake him from imperiled sleep, 
Ere the flames around him creep. 



ANGEL ALLIES. 



22i 



Turn tlie traveler from the way, 
Where the wild beast watched his prey, 
Where the dread assassin lay. 

Guide the vessel on the wave, 
Where it goes in time to save 
Wrecked ones from an ocean grave. 

Storm and tempest on the deep . 
Wild and high the billows leap ; 
When shall tliey in calmness sleep ? 

Floats a new and noble wreck, 
'Mid the waves a trembling speck — 
Who the fearful gale shall check ? 

Hundreds crowded, clinging there, 
Lift to Heaven their earnest prayer, 
Or wait death in 'dread despair. 



226 ANGEL ALLIES 

Slowly roll the hours away, 
Ocean rages through the day, 
Nor doth night its terror stay. 

Suddenly an Alpine surge 

Many sweeps from mortal verge — 

Passing, wails their solemn dirge. 

Who shall calm surviving grief? 
Whence shall come implored relief? 
Life is loved, but seems, how brief! 

Yonder, see ! a passing sail ! 
Signal, trumpet, gun, all hail ! 
Surely now shall hope prevail ! 

A.S on lost ones shuts the night. 
As fresh hope takes sudden flight. 
Goes that vessel from their sight ! 



ANGEL ALLIES. 

Must the storm its work complete ? 
Must stern Death mc^intain his seat ? 
Tread the victims 'neath his feet ? 

Lo ! another ship's descried, 
Poised upon the angry tide ; 
Nor is aid from her denied. 



Long she waited 'mid the storm, 
Sending words of friendship warm, 
Bringing near her wave-tossed form. 

Noble captain ! faithful men ! 
Moved by human sorrow then, 
Honor shall be yours again. 

Rescued from a yawning tomb ; 
Saved from shipwreck's awful doom- 
O what joy succeedeth gloom ! 



227 



228 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Who the wrecked Francisco tells, 

While a grateful bosom swells, 

Loud shall praise the brave Three Bells ! 



Angel, Death ! how dread the hour, 
When thy wing, with awful power, 
O'er the Pride of Seas did lower ! 



Shocked, by sudden horror bowed ; 
Trembling, living, dying crowd ; 
Wrapt in Ocean's misty shroud ! 

Yile and good — the oath and prayer ; 
Brave ones — ^base ones — all are there : 
Who the precious freight shall spare ? 

Left to perish, side by side. 
Of their safety robbed, denied ; 
Comes no vessel o'er the tide ! 



* 



ANGEL ALLIES. 229 

Sinking — lost ! How fails the pen, 

Fails imagination's ken, 

To portray that scene to men ! 

Sorrowing angels, on the wing, 
Tidings, oh how sad ! they bring ; 
Homes and hearts with anguish wring ! 

Lonely ones, when wild winds sweep, 
When the mist hangs o'er the deep. 
Long the Arctic^ s fate shall keep ! 

VII. 

Right's glorious triumph over flagrant wrong 

Is sure to come, although its foes be strong : 

The host may clamor at their leader's beck. 

And think they tread upon a victim's neck ; 

But Dragons' teeth they're pressing in the soil. 

Whence men shall spring and all their plunder 

spoil. 

20 



230 ANGEL ALLIES. 

TlioTigh Freedom's temple they may sack and 

burn, 
Shall rise a mightier Phoenix from its urn ! 
Against the just and true and brave, may press 
The thousand myrmidons of selfishness, 
And deem, in pride and arrogance, that they 
Their haughty scepter o'er the right may sAvay. 
Their foeman's power beyond their skill to know, 
Shall deal on them an unexpected blow ! ^ 

Near to the faithful is a mountain wood. 
Filled with the countless allies of the good : 
Justice and Truth their loyal hearts inspire, 
And urge them on like chariots of fire ! 
In hosts of might and majesty they come — 
duail then the traitors, and the base are dumb ! 

Thus Cromwell fought beneath the aid of 

Heaven, 
And glorious victories to his arms were given ; 
Thus WillIams battled in a bloodless fight. 
And gained the triumph of the soul's great right ; 



ANGEL ALLIES. 231 

Thus stood that matchless hero, Washington, 
Against the mighty, till the boon was won ; 
Thus WiLBERFORCE appealed to heavenly aid, 
And overcame — and crushed a hell-born trade ; 
And not the least 'mong moral champions now. 
Shall oft be mentioned, honored, loved, Ne al Dow ; 
And that blest cause, for which he struggled long, 
'Gainst worse than Syrian bands and far more 

strong. 
Shall triumph — and, in its benignant sway, 
The darkest night shall turn to loveliest day ! 

NETHER SPIRITS. 

While of Angel Allies singing, 
Helpers of the good and true. 

Oft their precious treasures bringing, 
Silent as the falling dew ; 

Other spirits have their merits, 

And the hue that each inherits, * 
May be red— may be blue. 



232 ANGEL ALLIES. 

These are worse than spirits rapping, 
Worse than phantom, ghonl or ghost 

Tiife and reason ever sapping. 
Bearing in their train a host — 

Horrid evils, done by devils, 

In their dens and 'mid their revels, 
Where of victories they boast ! 

Yictories over life and treasnre. 
Over health and truth and love. 

Over all domestic pleasure, 

Over hopes of heaven above — 

Victories aiding, in their trading, 

Satan's allies, ever lading 
Vessels of wrath, to prove. 



As the Demon's name was Legion, 
Ours are Legions, these retort ; 

And they dwell in many a region, 
Crossing waters for the port : 



ANGEL ALLIES. 233 



111 dry places seeking faces, 
Passing mouths and necks in races, 
Till the travel-means are short ! 



Reckless, lawless spirits, truly, 
Killing friends, defying foes ; 

And with manners most unruly, 
Painting deeply on the nose. 

Not of few ones, who in unions 

With these allies, hold communions, 
Blossoms, like a reddened rose ! 



After long and tedious trying 
To subdue these spirits bad, 

Moral suasion oft applying. 

While their reign contiimed sad. 

Legal suasion took occasion 

To cut off the deadly ration, 
Then Philanthropy was glad ! 

20* 



234 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Long these Nether Spirits freely- 
Scattered woe and death around ; 

Though they're sKppery, sly and eely, 
Hence shall be in prison bound : 

Nor shall teaching, pleading, preaching, 

Nor the words of soft beseeching. 

Bring them out on Freedom's ground. 

Should they not be calm and quiet. 
In the dungeons where they lie, 

But revolt in lawless riot. 
Then — the penalty apply ! 

Heads, necks rapping, breaking, slapping, 

'Mid rejoicing shouts and clapping, 
They shall struggle, bleed, and die ! 

VIII. 

Look at the cause of Truth and Right, 
Where Justice wages war with Might ; 
Where traitors thrive and knaves abound, 
And few among the good are found ; 



ANGEL ALLIES. 235 

Where rank Oppression binds the chain, 
And scorneth thoughts the free maintain ; 
Where base Ambition rears its head, 
Nor fears on holy ground to tread ; 
Where truth and faith and law are crushed, 
And pleadings for the right are hushed : 
O there, though few your ranks and thin. 
There stand against the hosts of sin ; 
God will the true and just defend, 
And ye shall conquer in the end ; 
Heaven's aid, as ye the torrents stem. 
Makes more with you than are with them ! 

If angels with Apostles went. 
And hovered round their pilgrim tent ; 
If they are guarding spirits still. 
And God's elect with courage fill ; 
Then ye, who stand on Zion's wall, 
Responsive to the Gospel call, 
And there the message high impart. 
That Heaven addresses to the heart ; 



236 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Fear not to cry aloud, nor spare — 

To guilty men their guilt declare : 

Reprove, exhort, rebuke, and though 

The sinner be not mean nor low, 

But if among the high he stand. 

E'en in the councils of the land. 

Pass not his sin, without a word 

Of firm remonstrance being heard. 

As to the guilty King he ran. 

The Prophet said : '•' Thou art the man !" 

The freedom demagogues would sell. 

And all the gladdening hopes they'd quell, 

Are no more theirs for self to spend. 

Than yours to cherish and defend ! 

We know our rights and duties too, 

And knowing, we will dare to do ! 

Trusting in Him we love to serve, 

Nor threats nor slang our hearts shall swerve. 

Let party vassals rage and sneer : 

Let faithless ones deride and jeer ; 



ANGEL ALLIES. 237 

Let all the Slavery-serving pack 

The driver's whip above us crack ; 

We fear them not, nor shall we shrink 

To speak the thoughts our free minds think, 

And solemnly those thoughts proclaim 

Against the wrong, in God's great name ! 

IX. 

The song must close, the harp be laid aside ; 
Days, years are fading like the eventide : 
Eternal Right and changeless Truth remain. 
And these, though " crushed to earth shall rise 

again :" 
Out-living all their foes, a coming time 
Shall hail their universal sway sublime ! 
Let Faith be firm, and Patience calmly wait. 
While hands are strong, and trusting hearts elate ; 
And, as the years of this our fleeting life 
Are passing forward 'mid a moral strife, 
On which the spirits of the blest look down, 
And lend their aid our glorious work to crown — 



238 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Conquests we see that make our souls rejoice, 
Give hope to heart, and melody to voice : 
Then, looking onward to that clearer light. 
Victorious pseans we may sing to-night ! 



MORAL TRIUMPH. 

Fought is the battle ! 

Victory won ! 
Clouds are departing — 
Shineth the sun. 
Day of redemption, hail to thy morning! 
Glory gleams on thee, brightly adorning ! 

Gained is the truunph, 

Right wins the day ; 
Freedom ascendant, 

Blessed her sway ! 
Fling out the banner, ^vave it in splendor ; 
Praise for the conquest, grateful hearts render ! 



ANGEL ALLIES. 239 

Toil is rewarded, 

Prayer hath been heard, 
Faith at last conquers, 
Hope's not deferred. 
Shout ! ye long patient ; rise in your gladness ; 
Welcome the era ending your sa*dness ! 

Comes a strong Angel, 

Earthward again, 
Binds the old Dragon 
Fast in his chain. 
Joy to the freed ones ! woe to the oppressor ! 
Angel of good, henceforth the aggressor t 

Courage ! ye toilers, ^ 

Onward for right ; 
Breaketh the day-dawn, 
Passeth the night : 
Heaven's light gildeth hill-tops and mountains, 
Drops down the valleys, smiles on the fountains ! 



240 ANGEL ALLIES. 

Up now, ye crushed ones, 

Fetters throw by : 
Death-freighted thunders 
Roll from your sky ! 
Gone is the storm-cloud, fearful and hateful , 
Liberty's gales bring music most grateful ! 

Greetings ! true-hearted, 

Over the land ; 
Soldiers of virtue, 
Valiantly stand ! 
Pear not the foeman, selfish and stoic ; 
God, in the battle, aids the heroic ! 

Cravens are cowering. 

False ones turn pale ; 
Freedom's betrayers 

Tremble and quail ! 
Glorious Columbia utters her voices. 
Hears them our Eagle, screams and rejoices ! 



§ies |ri5. 



I. 

Day of wrath ! that day appalling ! 
When the world in fire is falling ! — 
Prophet voice and scroll recalling. 

II. 

Ah ! what dread dismay impending ! 
When the Judge shall be descending, 
Searching eye o'er all things bending ! 

III. 

Lo ! the trump, in thunder pealing, 
Calls the dead, their tombs unsealing, 
Up to God, his throne revealing ! 

IV. 

Death amazed, and Nature quaking. 
See the crowds, their graves forsaking, 
Swift their way to judgment taking ! 

21 



242 DIES I R ^ . 

V. 

Opened are the solemn pages, 
Where are writ the deeds of ages ; 
Whence the world await their wages. 

VI. 

Now, the Judge his seat maintainingj 
Hidden things in light arraigning, 
Nought is unavenged remaining. 

VII. 

Ah ! what then shall / say, quailing ? 
Who for me shall plead, prevailing. 
When the just man's heart is failing ? 

VIII. 

King of glorious exaltation ! 

Thou, the saved, dost give salvation ; 

Save me, Fount of consolation ! 

IX. 

Jesus ! ne'er forget me, sighing 
O'er my sins, thy grief supplying : 
Lose me not that day all trying ! 



DIES I R 5: 



243 



X. 

Weary, waiting, thou hast sought me ; 
On the cross from death hast bought me : 
Be not vain what thou hast wrought me ! 



XI. 



Righteous Judge ! dread vengeance bearing, 
Let me pardon free be sharing. 
Ere that day of doom declaring ! 

XII. 

All condemned, my guilt lamenting, 
Of my faults in shame repenting ; 
Spare the suppliant, Lord, relenting! 

XIII. 

Thy forgiveness Mary showing, 
Mercy to the robber flowing, 
Hope on me thou art bestowing. 

XIV. 

With my prayers though sin is blending, 
Grace, good Lord, to me extending. 
Shield me from the fire unending ! 



244 DIES I R JE . 

XV. 

Place me with thy sheep selected, 
Distant from the goats rejected, 
At thy right hand safe-protected. 

XVI. 

When the scorners' hopes are riven, 
They to fiercest flames are driven, 
Call me with the blest to heaven. 

X\II. 

Lowly bowed, before Thee pleading, 
Heart in ashes, broken, bleeding ; 
Help me in the hour of needing ! 

XVIII. 

Oh ! that day of tears and dooming ! 
When, awaked from long entombing, 
Man to judgment is assembling — 
Spare, O God ! thy creatures trembling ! 



NOTES 



2P 



NOTES 



NoTB 1. Page 21. " This beauteous City's ample arms." 

The reference is to New-Haven ; its delightful situation, the 
loveliness of its varied adornings of nature and art, and scenes 
connected with its early settlement. The fii'st Sabbath after 
the arrival of the colonists, the Rev. Mr. Davenport, one of 
their number, preached to them, assembled under a large 
tree — a locality still pointed out in a thickly settled part of 
the city. This allusion to New-IIaven was deemed appropri- 
ate in delivering the Poem before the Young Men's Institute 
of that city. When it was subsequently repeated at an annir 
versary of the Literary Societies of Madison University, at 
Hamilton, N". Y., it was modified by the substitution of the 
following lines: 

Blest Pioneers ! who primal forests cleared, 
Long shall your sturdy virtues be revered. 
Here, where ye sowed, on many an ample field, 
Not merely harvests that the earth may yield. 
But holier plants that in perennial bloom. 
Shall shed their fragrance 'mid the darkest gloom ; 
Here, in these valleys, where ye preached the Cross, 
And for it welcomed toil and shame and loss ; 
Glad to behold, in many a clustering place. 
The gathered Church, adorned with heavenly grace ; 
Here, 'mid sequestered charms and hill-sides, where 
Ye laid these walls in tears and faith and prayer; 



248 NOTES. 



Whence, as revolving years have sped their flight, 
Hath gone to distant realms celestial light : 
And, from her earnest, fair and trusting youth. 
This Alma Mater of the sons of truth, 
Hath grown to queenly vigor, grace and form, 
Loved in her peril — strengthened by the storm ! 
Here, future years shall hallow Kendrick's fame, 
And long remember Hascall's cherished name : 
And other names, with these enwreathed, entwined, 
Shall, in the halls of Memory, be shrined. 



Note 2. Page 45. "O grave of Gallaudet!" 
The Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LL.D, introduced into this 
country the system of deaf-mute instruction, and was for many 
years Principal of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Hartford. 
He was subsequently Chaplain of the Insane Retreat in that 
city. He was also the author of numerous popular works de- 
signed for the religious instruction of the young. In reciting 
this Poem, a few days after his death, before the Gallaudet 
Society of the State Normal School at New-Britain, this pass- 
ing tribute was paid to his character. 



Note 3. Page 47. " Oh, such was he." 
For forty-two years, the Rev. Daniel Sharp, D. D., was the 
excellent and beloved Pastor of the Charles Street Baptist 
Church, Boston. A man of large and generous heart, an elo- 
quent and practical preacher, he also took an active and prom- 
inent part in missionary and other benevolent enterprises, 
and was frequently called to officiate on important anniver- 
sary occasions. He left one or two such ap[)ointments unful- 
filled at his death, which took place June 23, 1853. 



NOTES. 249 

Note 4. Page 69. "Roger Williams's Rock." 
After taking his final leave of Massachusetts, Roger "Wil- 
liams passed over in a boat to the west bank of the Seekonk 
River, and first landed, it is said, upon the Rock which still 
bears his name, and is situated a little east from the city of 
Providence. He was there met by a party of friendly Indians, 
who addressed him with the words, " What cheer," a phrase 
equivalent to " How do you do ?" This little ode had its ori- 
gin in the visit to that locality of a party of ladies and gentle- 
men, to whom it was recited from the Rock. 



Note 5. Page 103. "The Karen Village." 

In the year 1836, Miss Eleanor Macomber, a native of the 
State of New York, commenced her solitary labors as a Mis- 
sionary at Dong-Yan, a Karen village, about thirty-five miles 
north of Maulmain, Burmah. Having heard, after her arrival 
in India, of this village, of its utter moral and religious desti- 
tution, and the degradation of its heathen inhabitants, who 
were specially addicted to drunkenness and its kindred vices, 
she was deeply anxious to teach them the precepts of the 
Gospel. She began, alone, her instructions at the house of the 
Chief, whose name was Aii-wah, and who was notorious for 
his intemperate and other vicious habits. She first gained the 
ear and heart of the Chieftain's wife ; and then the Convert 
and Teacher expected nothing but insult and abuse from the 
infuriate husband. To attempt to rebuke him or reason with 
him, seemed a dangerous and hopeless task. At length, at the 
suggestion of the Chief's wife. Miss Macomber approached him 
and related the simple story of the Cross — the love, the suffer- 
ings, and the death of Jesus Christ. This, as liis wife predict- 
ed, the Chief was not able to resist. Conversions multiplied 



250 NOTES. 

» 

rapidly, and in a few months a Christian Church was gathered, 
►and became the center of a wide-spread religious influence, 
and is still in a flourishing state. This Poem was written for 
an anniversary occasion of the Ladies' Lesbian and Missionary 
Societies of Connecticut Literary Institution, at Suflield. 



Note 6. Page 146. " Judson leaving St. Helena." 
After an absence of thirty-three years, spent amid the vicis- 
situdes of missionary life, the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D. D., was 
returning to make his first and only visit to his native country, 
when his wife, for the benefit of whose health the voyage 
was undertaken, died on shipboard in the harbor of St. Helena, 
September 1, 1845. Dr. Judson thus describes his emotions 
after the funeral solemnities had taken place on the island: 
" I was obliged to hasten on board the ship, and we immedi- 
ately went to sea. On the following morning no vestige of 
the Island was discernible in the distant horizon. For a few 
days, in the solitude of ray cabin, with ray poor children cry- 
ing around me, I could not help abandoning myself to heart- 
breaking sorrow. But the promises of the Gospel came to my 
aid and faith stretched her view to the bright world of eternal 
life, and anticipated a happy meeting with those beloved be- 
tngs whose bodies ai'e mouldering at Amherst and St. Helena." 



Note 7. Page 241. "Dies Ir^." 

An attempt has here been made to render this ancient and 
celebrated Latin Hymn into English verse, retaining as far as 
possible the structure and sentiment of the devout, solemn and 
sublime original. Though many translations of it in English 
have been made, the present writer has seen but few in which 
the double rhymes are preserved ; and the best of these is by 



NOTES. 251 

Rev. Wm. R. Williams, D. D., of New York. It may be found 
with much interesting matter relating to the Dies Iras, in an 
appendix to the first article in his Miscellanies. Thomas de 
Celano, a monk of the thirteenth century, is supposed to have 
been the author of the original, which is here subjoined. 

DIES IR^. 

1. 
Dies irse ! dies ilia ! 
Solvet sfeclum in favilla; 
Teste David cum Sibylla. 

2. ^ 

Quantus tremor est fn turns, 
Quando Judex est venturus. 
Cuncta stricte discussurus. 

8. 
Tuba mirum spargens sonum, 
Per sepulchra regionum, 
Coget omnes ante thronum. 

4. 
Mors stupebit et natura. 
Cum resurget creatura, 
Judicanti responsura. 

5. 
Liber scriptus proferetur. 
In quo totimi continetur, 
Unde mundus iudicetur. 

6. 
Judex ergo cum sedebit, 
Quidquid latet apparebit, 
Nil inultum remanebit. 

7. 
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? 
Quem patronum rogaturus, 
Cum vix Justus sit securus? 

8. 
Rex tremendae majestatis! 
Qui salvandos salvas gratis, 
Salva me, fons pietatis. 



252 NOTES 



Recordare, Jesu pie, 
Quod sum causa tuse vise : 
Ne me perdas ilia die. 

10. 
Quserens me, sedisti lassus ; 
Redemisti crueem passus; 
Tantus labor non sit cassus. 

11. 
Juste judex ultionis, 
Donura fac remissionis, 
Ante diem rationis. 

12. 
Ingemisco tanquam reus; 
Culpa rubet vultus meus : 
Supplicanti parce, Deus. 

13. 
Qui Mariam absolvisti, 
Et latronem exaudisti, 
Mihi quoque spem dedisti. 

14. 
Preces meaj non sunt dignw, 
Sed tu, bone, fac benigne, 
Ne perenni creraer igne! 

15. 
Inter oves locum pr^esta, 
•Et ab haedis me sequestra, 
Statuens in parte dextra. 

16. 
Confutatis maledictis, 
Flammis acribus addictis, 
Voca me cum benedictis. 

17. ,^ . 

Oro supplex, et aeclinis. 
Cor contritum quasi cinis; 
Gere curam mei finis. 

18. 
Lacrymosa die ilia 
Qua resurget ex favilla, 
Judicandus homo reus : 
Huic ergo parce, Deus ! 



